IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON FUZZY SYSTEMS, VOL. 12, NO.

4, AUGUST 2004 549

Letters__________________________________________________________________________________________
Acrobatic Control of a Pendubot
Wei Li, Kazuo Tanaka, and Hua O. Wang

Abstract—This paper presents acrobatic control of an underactuated

two-link robot called the pendubot. To achieve acrobatic control for the
pendubot, we design a fuzzy controller for keeping first link swinging
periodically while the second link maintains standing vertically. To facil-
itate the controller design, we represent the pendubot dynamics with a
Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy model. We derive a linear matrix inequality (LMI)
design condition to realize the acrobatic behavior. To accomplish the
numerical feasibility design, we need to select carefully reference fuzzy
model dynamics by taking into account some constraints. After selecting
reference fuzzy model dynamics, an acrobatic controller is designed by
solving the LMI condition. Simulation results show the utility of the
proposed acrobatic control.
Index Terms—Acrobatic control, linear matrix inequality (LMI) design
conditions, pendubot, Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy model.

I. INTRODUCTION
The two-link underactuated robotic mechanism called the pendubot
is widely used for research in nonlinear control and for education in
various concepts like nonlinear dynamics, robotics and control system
design [2]. Numerous control strategies have been proposed to bring the
mechanism to the upright position, such as partial feedback lineariza-
tion techniques [3] and energy-based approach [2]. Intelligent controls
for similar underactuated robots have been addressed. Sanchez et al.
[6], [7] realized underactuated robot swing-up control via fuzzy con-
trol. Brown and Passino [8] discussed intelligent control of swing up
and balancing control of an acrobot. The main topics of these papers
are swing up control and balancing (stabilizing) control at the upright
position. This paper will present a new control technique from another
point of view. It is realization of acrobatic behavior, e.g., keeping first
link swinging periodically, while the second link maintains standing
vertically. A number of literature have been reported the swing up and
balancing control. To our knowledge, acrobatic control of the pendubot
or similar underactuated robots has not been discussed in the literature.
In this paper, we employ Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy model-based control
to realize the acrobatic control. Recently, nonlinear control based on
Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems have been discussed in a huge amount
of literature [4]–[19]. These have considered typical regulation prob-
lems, i.e., stabilization at an equibulium point. However, to achieve the
acrobatic control, we need to design a controller so as to follow a given
reference model dynamics that generates acrobatic behavior. Since the
pendubot is an underactuated system in addition to a nonlinear system,
acrobatic control design becomes complicated in general. This paper
gives a simple and natural control technique to realize the acrobatic
control.
In this paper, we design an acrobatic controller to keep the first link
swinging while the second link maintains standing vertically. To facil-
Fig. 1. Pendubot.
Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy model [20]. Once fuzzy model is obtained, the
parallel distributed compensation provided in [17] and [19] is carried
out to design controllers. We derive a linear matrix inequality (LMI)
design condition to realize acrobatic behavior. To accomplish the nu-
merical feasibility design, we need to select carefully reference fuzzy
model dynamics by taking into account some constraints. After se-
lecting reference fuzzy model dynamics, an acrobatic controller is de-
signed by solving the LMI condition. Simulation results show the ef-
fectiveness of the proposed acrobatic control.
II. PENDUBOT SYSTEM DYNAMICS
Fig. 1 shows the pendubot. The pendubot system consists of two link,
with an actuator at the shoulder (link 1) and no actuator at the elbow
(link 2). Link 2 moves freely around link 1 [2]. m1 and m2 are the
masses of link 1 and link 2. 1 is the torque applied on link 1. q1 the
angle that link 1 makes with the horizontal, q2 the angle that the link
2 makes with link 1, l1 and l2 the lengths of link 1 and link 2, lc1 , lc2
the distance to the center of mass of link 1 and link 2, I1 and I2 the
moments of inertia of link 1 and link 2 about their centroids.
We introduce the following five parameters: 1 = m1 lc21 + m2 l12 +
I1 , 2 = m2 lc22 + I2 , 3 = m2 l1 lc2 , 4 = m1 lc1 + m2 l1 , and
5 = m1 lc2 . Considering standard assumption, i.e., no friction, we
have the nonlinear equations of motion as
1 2
q1 =
1 2 0 32 cos q2 2 [2 3 sin q2(q_1 + q_2)
2 2
+ 3 cos q2 sin (q2 )q_1
+ 2 4 g sin q1 0 0
3 5 g cos q2 sin (q1 + q2 ) 2 1 ]; (1)
q2 =
1
0
1 2 32 cos q2 2
0
[ 3 (2 + 3 cos q2 ) sin q2 (q_1 + q_2 )
2

itate the controller design, we represent the pendubot dynamics with a

0 2
(1 + 3 cos q2 )3 sin q2 q_1
Manuscript received September 4, 2003; revised May 31, 2004. 0 (2 + 3 cos q2)(4 g sin q1 0 1)
W. Li and K. Tanaka are with the Department of Mechanical Systems and
Intelligent Systems, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo 182- + (1 + 3 cos q2 )5 g sin (q1 + q2 )]: (2)
8585, Japan (e-mail: liwei@rc.mce.uec.ac.jp; ktanaka@mce.uec.ac.jp).
H. O. Wang is with the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engi- In this paper, we suppose link 1 and link 2 are the same, and set param-
neering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 USA (e-mail: wangh@bu.edu). eters as m = 1, l = 1, lc1 = 0:5, g = 9:8, and I = (1=12)ml2 =
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TFUZZ.2004.832540 1=12.

1063-6706/04$20.00 © 2004 IEEE

550 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON FUZZY SYSTEMS, VOL. 12, NO. 4, AUGUST 2004

III. ACROBATIC CONTROL and it is a Hurwitz matrix, then limt!1 e(t) = 0. It is generally hard
to solve (11) for F i and K k . Hence, we take a simple and practical
Our control objective is not the regulation problem, which is one
strategy of determining F i and K k such that the error system (8) is
of typical problems in control engineering. In this paper, we deal with
stabilized. Note that the condition can be converted into the following
acrobatic control that is an interesting nonstandard control problem.
condition:
The original system can be represented as
r kGij 0 H ijk k   (12)
q_ (t) = hi (q(t))(Aiq (t) + B iu(t)) (3)
i=1 for i < j s.t hi \ hj 6= , where  is zero. The notation, i < j s.t
where q (t) = [q1 (t) q_1 (t) q2 (t) q_2 (t)]T denotes the states of hi \ hj 6= , means that all i < j excepting hi (q(t)) 2 hj (q(t)) = 0.
the system. The membership functions satisfy hi (q (t))  0 and The aforementioned condition is equivalent to (Gij 0H ijk )T (Gij 0
r hi (q (t)) = 1. The construction from the original model will be
i=1 H ijk )  II for i < j s.t hi \ hj 6= . By multiplying the previous
addressed later. inequality on the left and right by X = P 01 > 0, we obtain
We use the following reference model to achieve acrobatic control:
r X (Gij 0 H ijk )T (Gij 0 H ijk )X  2X X : (13)
q_ R (t) = vk (q R (t))D k q R (t) (4)
k=1 Assume that X > I . Then, (13) holds if
where q R (t) = [qR1 (t) q_R1 (t) qR2 (t) q_R2 (t)]T denotes the states of
the reference model. As well as in the fuzzy model, the membership
X (Gij 0 H ijk )T (Gij 0 H ijk )X  II (14)
functions satisfy vk (q R (t))  0 and rk=1 vk (q R (t)) = 1. Assume
that e(t) = q (t) 0 q R (t), then from (3) and (4), the error system is where  = 2 .
From the above condition and the fact that Gij should be a Hurwitz
e_ (t) = q_ (t) 0 q_ R (t) matrix, we define the design problem as follows.
r r Find X > I and M i , N k (i; j; k = 1; 2; . . . ; r ) satisfying the
= hi (q (t))vk (qR (t))[(Aiq (t)+B iu(t)) 0D k q R (t)]: second equation shown at the bottom of the page, where X = P 01 ,
i=1 k=1 M i = F iX , and N k = K k X . The design problem consists of two
(5) sets of LMIs. The first LMI guarantees the stability of the error system
Consider the input as follows: (8). The second LMI is derived from the condition (11). In this way, we
r r can calculate the feedback gains F i and K k . The symbol 3 denotes the
transposed elements (matrices) for symmetric positions. If  is zero,
u ( t) = 0 hi (q (t))F iq (t) + vk (q R (t))K k q R (t): (6)
i=1 k=1 the control purpose is perfectly achieved. However, if  is extremely
small, the control purpose is realized in practice.
The controller design is to determine F i and K k to stabilize the In acrobatic control, a freedom of selecting D k exists. A wrong se-
error system (5). Substituting (6) into (5), the overall control system is lection of D k causes a problem that cannot minimize  enough. To
represented as minimize  as much as possible, we should carefully select D k . We
r r need to select D k by comparing the elements of Gij with those of H ijk
e_ (t) = hi (q (t))hj (q (t))(Ai 0B iF j )q (t) for i < j s.t hi \ hj 6= . Also, H ijk should be a Hurwitz matrix. In
i=1 j =1 other words, (D k ; (B i + B j )=2) is at least stabizable for all i, j and
r r
0 hi (q (t))vk (qR (t))2 (D k 0B iK k )q R (t): (7)
k . Thus, we should carefully choose D k , so that it is possible to satisfy
those conditions simultaneously.
i=1 k=1
As shown in (1) and (2), the pendubot system has strong nonlin-
It can be rewritten as (8), as shown at the bottom of the page, where earity. So, we choose local approximation [1] to obtain a fuzzy model
Gij =
Ai 0 B iF j + Aj 0 B j F i ; (9)
in fuzzy partition spaces. The spirit of the approach is to approximate
2 nonlinear terms by judiciously choosing linear terms. This procedure
H ijk = D k 0 B i + B j K k : (10)
leads to reduction of the number of model rules, which directly results
2 in simplification of analysis and design LMI conditions.
If As illustrated in Fig. 1, for keeping the second link upright at any
time, we have equation qR1 (t) + qR2 (t) = 0 as a constraint, which
Gij = H ijk ; i; j = 1; 2 . . . r; k = 1; 2 . . . rR (11) also means that q_R1 (t) + q_R2 (t) = 0 and qR1 (t) + qR2 (t) = 0 hold.

r r r
e_ (t) = hi (q (t))hj (q (t))vk (qR (t)) 2 [Gij q (t) 0 H ijk q R (t)] (8)
i=1 j =1k=1

minimize  subject to X > I ;  > 0; 0AiX 0 X ATi 0 Aj X 0 X ATj + B j M i + M Ti B jT + B iM j + M Tj B iT  0;

i < j s:t hi \ hj 6= 
II 12 [(AiX 0 B iM j + Aj X 0 B j M i ) 0 (2Dk X 0 (B i + B j )N k )]T
> 0;
3 I
i < j s:t hi \ hj =6 
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON FUZZY SYSTEMS, VOL. 12, NO. 4, AUGUST 2004 551

Following the procedure stated in [1], we can have the following

fuzzy model:
Model Rule 1 : IF q1 (t) is 0; and q_1 (t) is c1 ;
THEN q_ (t) = A1q (t) + B 1 1 (t)
Model Rule 2 : IF q1 (t) is 0; and q_1 (t) is c2 ;
THEN q_ (t) = A2q (t) + B 2 1 (t)
Model Rule 3 : IF q1 (t) is 6 ; and q_1 (t) is c1 ;
THEN q_ (t) = A 3q (t) + B 3 1 (t)
Model Rule 4 : IF q1 (t) is 6 ; and q_1 (t) is c2 ;
THEN q_ (t) = A 4q (t) + B 4 1 (t):
Where c1 , c2 , and  are constants, c1 > 0, c2 < 0, jc1 j 6= jc2 j, and
the equation shown at the bottom of the page holds. It is considerably
important to choose c1 and c2 . The bigger q_1 is, the higher the swinging
frequency becomes, and the harder control turns to be. In this paper,
c1 = 0:5, c2 = 00:4, and  = 10 . Note that jq (0)j ; jq R (0)j 
min jc1 j; jc2 j. Fig. 2 illustrates the membership functions of q1 (t) and
q_1 (t). We employ the following reference fuzzy model: Fig. 2. Membership functions of q (t) and q_ (t).

Reference Rule 1 : IF qR1 (t) is 0; and q_R1 (t) is c1 ;

0 1 0 0
THEN q_ R (t) = D 1q R (t) 10:0 8 :0 10:25 8 :0
D3 =
Reference Rule 2 : IF qR1 (t) is 0; and q_R1 (t) is c2 ; 0 0 0 1
THEN q_ R (t) = D 2q R (t) 010:15 019:82 010:4 019:82
Reference Rule 3 : IF qR1 (t) is 6 ; and q_R1 (t) is c1 ; 0 1 0 0
10:0 8 :0 10:0 8 :0
THEN q_ R (t) = D 3q R (t) D 4= :
Reference Rule 4 : IF qR1 (t) is 6 ; and q_R1 (t) is c2 ;
0 0 0 1
010:15 019:82 010:31 019:82
THEN q_ R (t) = D 4q R (t)
Note that r = rR and hi (x) = vi (x) for any x . Fig. 3 shows state re-
sponses for the original system (1) and (2), where q (0) = [5 ; 0; 05 ; 0]
0 1 0 0

D1 =
10:0 3 :0 10:25 3 :0
and q R (0) = [5 ; 0:1; 05 ; 00:1]. The state responses of the pendubot
0 0 0 1 system approach those of the reference system in 10 seconds. The de-
010:3 07:5 010:55 07:5 signed fuzzy controller works effectively. Frequency and amplitude of
0 1 0 0 state responses depend on the initial states of q R . So by setting values
10:0 6 :0 10:16 6 :0 of q R (0), we can obtain various system response. However, considering
D2 =
0 0 0 1 pendubot as a physical system, we should choose those initial values,
010:3 015 010:46 015 which satisfy certain dynamic constraints.

0 1 0 0
   
g0 (c    0 g)
A1 =    0 0    0 0
0 0 0 1
( + ) 0
( + )
g
( + )( g 0c  )
   0 0    0 0
0 1 0 0
   
g0 (c  0
  g)
A2 =    0 0    0 0
0 0 0 1
( + ) 0
( + )
g
( + )( g 0c  )
   0 0    0 0
0 1 0 0
  0  cos  sin  g 0
c    g sin 2
A3 =   0 cos   0 0
   cos  2
0
0 0 0 1

  0
g
cos 
[(1 + 3 cos  )5 0 ( 2 + 3 cos  )4 ] 0   0 cos 
[(1 + 3 cos  )(5 g 0 c  )]
2
1 3 0
0 1 0 0
  0  cos  sin  g 0
c    g sin 2
A4 =   0 cos   0 0
   cos  2
0
0 0 0 1

  0
g
cos 
[(1 + 3 cos  )5 0 ( 2 + 3 cos  )4 ] 0   0 cos 
[(1 + 3 cos  )(5 g 0 c  )]
2
2 3 0
0 0
0 0
B1 = B2 =   0 B3 = B4 =   0 cos  :
0 0
 +  + cos 
  0   0 cos 
552
Fig. 3. State responses for original system (1) and (2).
IV. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented acrobatic control of an underactuated two-
link robot called the pendubot. To achieve acrobatic control for the pen-
dubot, we have designed a fuzzy controller for keeping first link swinging
periodically while the second link maintains standing vertically. We have
derived an LMI design condition to realize acrobatic behavior. To ac-
complish the numerical feasibility design, we need to select carefully ref-
erence fuzzy model dynamics by taking into account some constraints.
After selecting reference fuzzy model dynamics, an acrobatic controller
has been designed by solving the LMI condition. Simulation results have
shown the utility of the proposed acrobatic control. A next subject of our
study is to apply this control technique to the real pendubot system.
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Intelligent Tracking Control for Robot Manipulator
Including Actuator Dynamics via TSK-Type
Fuzzy Neural Network
Rong-Jong Wai and Po-Chen Chen
Abstract—In this paper, a Takagi–Sugeno–Kang-type fuzzy-neural-net-
work control (T-FNNC) scheme is constructed for an -link robot
manipulator to achieve high-precision position tracking. According to
the concepts of mechanical geometry and motion dynamics, the dynamic
model of an -link robot manipulator including actuator dynamics is
introduced initially. However, it is difficult to design a suitable model-based
control scheme due to the uncertainties in practical applications, such as
friction forces, external disturbances and parameter variations. In order
to cope with this problem, a T-FNNC system without the requirement of
prior system information and auxiliary control design is investigated to the
joint position control of an -link robot manipulator for periodic motion.
In this model-free control scheme, a five-layer fuzzy-neural-network is
utilized for the major control role, and the adaptive tuning laws of network
parameters are established in the sense of projection algorithm and
Lyapunov stability theorem to ensure the network convergence as well as
stable control performance. In addition, experimental results of a two-link
robot manipulator actuated by dc servomotors are provided to verify the
effectiveness and robustness of the proposed T-FNNC methodology.
Index Terms—Adaptive tuning algorithm, dc servomotors, Lyapunov
stability theorem, robot manipulator, Takagi–Sugeno–Kang (TSK)-type
fuzzy-neural-network.
I. INTRODUCTION
Over the past decade, the applications of intelligent control tech-
niques (fuzzy control or neural-network control) to the motion control
of robotic manipulators have received considerable attention [1]–[4].
Manuscript received October 2, 2003; revised March 14, 2004. This work
was supported by the National Science Council, R.O.C., under Project NSC
92-2213-E-155-030.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Yuan Ze Uni-
versity, Chung Li 32026, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TFUZZ.2004.832531