Barrier-critic-disturbance approximate optimal control of nonzero-sum differential games for modular robot manipulators

In this paper, for addressing the safe control problem of modular robot manipulators (MRMs) system with uncertain disturbances, an approximate optimal control scheme of nonzero-sum (NZS) differential games is proposed based on the control barrier function (CBF). The dynamic model of the manipulator system integrates joint subsystems through the utilization of joint torque feedback (JTF) technique, incorporating interconnected dynamic coupling (IDC) effects. By integrating the cost functions relevant to each player with the CBF, the evolution of system states is ensured to remain within the safe region. Subsequently, the optimal tracking control problem for the MRM system is reformulated as an NZS game involving multiple joint subsystems. Based on the adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) algorithm, a cost function approximator for solving Hamilton–Jacobi (HJ) equation using only critic neural networks (NN) is established, which promotes the feasible derivation of the approximate optimal control strategy. The Lyapunov theory is utilized to demonstrate that the tracking error is uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB). Utilizing the CBF’s state constraint mechanism prevents the robot from deviating from the safe region, and the application of the NZS game approach ensures that the subsystems of the MRM reach a Nash equilibrium. The proposed control method effectively addresses the problem of safe and approximate optimal control of MRM system under uncertain disturbances. Finally, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method are verified through simulations and experiments.