An In-Depth Analysis of Sliding Mode Control and Its Application to Robotics

In this study, a sliding mode control scheme with a bounded region and its convergence analysis are explained to the finest detail and are applied to robotic manipulators which represent the best examples for strongly coupled, highly nonlinear, time-varying dynamical systems. Simulation studies have been applied separately to two different control systems in order to demonstrate the feasibility, performance, and effectiveness of the proposed control methodology through the design of the sliding mode controller: firstly, the position control of an armature-controlled dc servo motor subject to a varying external disturbance, and secondly, a two-link robot manipulator that were also analyzed in terms of its robustness by adding extra mass to one of the joints to be able to maintain the trajectory in the sliding surface. Simulations show that a fast convergence rate, and therefore quick response, the ability to reject the varying external disturbances, and the robustness against the model uncertainty assumed to be unbounded and fast-varying have all achieved its purpose entirely. This study also examines the advantages of SMC and PID comparably. The results given here do not contradict the view that one can use it instead of the other without losing too much performance, and confirm the success of the presented approach.