AbstractThis article presents the implementation of a joint‐space adaptive control scheme used to control noncompliant motion of a Stewart platform‐based manipulator (SPBM) that is used in a facility called the Hardware Real‐Time Emulator (HRTE) developed at Goddard Space Flight Center to emulate space operations. The SPBM is comprised of two platforms and six linear actuators driven by dc motors, and possesses six degrees of freedom. The article briefly reviews the development of the adaptive control scheme, which is composed of proportional‐derivative (PD) controllers whose gains are adjusted by an adaptation law driven by the errors between the desired and actual trajectories of the SPBM actuator lengths. The derivation of the adaptation law is based on the concept of model reference adaptive control (MRAC) and Lyapunov direct method under the assumption that SPBM motion is slow as compared to the controller adaptation rate. An experimental study is conducted to evaluate the performance of the adaptive control scheme implemented to control the SPBM to track a vertical and circular paths under step changes in payload. Experimental results show that the adaptive control scheme provides superior tracking capability as compared to fixed‐gain co
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