Optimal control of hydraulically driven parallel robot platform based on firefly algorithm

Abstract

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. A new cascade load force control design for a parallel robot platform is proposed. A parameter search for a proposed cascade controller is difficult because there is no methodology to set the parameters and the search space is broad. A parameter search based on firefly algorithm (FA) is suggested to effectively search the parameters of the cascade controller. We used unified mathematical model of hydraulic actuator of parallel robot platform. These equations are readily applicable to various types of proportional valves, and they unify the cases of critical center, overlapped and underlapped valves. These unified model equations are useful for nonlinear controller design. The optimal results are compared to those obtained from other metaheuristic algorithms: GA, PSO and CS. A comparative study is also made between proposed optimal tuned cascade control using FA and well-tuned PID controller. Simulation results show the advantages of the proposed optimal tuned cascade controller using FA to solve a formulated tracking problem.