The reliable operation of the sensors of robot joint drive systems (RJDs) is a key factor in ensuring the safety of equipment and personnel. Over the years, additional safety-related systems have been designed to prevent safety incidents caused by robot failures, ignoring the functional safety issues of the robot sensors themselves. In view of this, based on IEC61508, a functional safety analysis and design method for sensors of RJDs is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the hazard analysis and risk assessment clarified the goals that the safety protection function of the RJD’s sensor should achieve. Then, by establishing the motor drive model and transmission model, a model-based sensor fault diagnosis and isolation strategy is proposed. Considering the fault-tolerant operation of system, a fail-operational hardware architecture of the safety-related system is designed. Markov analysis shows that the safety integrity level (SIL) of safety-related systems can reach SIL3. Finally, experiments are designed to validate the proposed fault diagnosis and fault tolerance strategy. The results show that the safety-related system can effectively locate sensor failures, realize fault-tolerant control when a single sensor fails and perform safe torque off (STO) protection when multiple sensors fail.

The synchronization control performance of the Fieldbus control system (FCS) is an important guarantee for the completion of multi-axis collaborative machining tasks, and its synchronization control accuracy is one of the decisive factors for the machining quality. To improve the synchronization control accuracy of FCS, this paper first makes a comprehensive analysis of the factors affecting synchronization in FCS. Secondly, by analyzing the communication model of linear Ethernet, a distributed clock compensation method based on timestamps is proposed to solve the asynchronous problem of communication data transmission in the linear ethernet bus topology. Then, based on the CANopen application layer protocol, the FCS communication and device control task collaboration method is proposed to ensure the synchronous control of multiple devices by FCS. Finally, an experimental platform is built for functional verification and performance testing of the proposed synchronization method. The results show that the proposed synchronization method can achieve a communication synchronization accuracy of 50 ns and a device control synchronization accuracy of 150 ns.

Nonlinear disturbances, such as friction, backlash, and base vibration, are the main factors restricting the further improvement of the dynamic performance of the Acquisition, Tracking and Pointing (ATP) system. However, the modeling and compensation of the time-varying nonlinearities are still challenging. In this paper, a compound control algorithm based on model predictive control (MPC) and a Proportional Multiple-Integral State-Augmented Kalman Filter (PMISAKF) disturbance observer is proposed to improve the disturbance rejection performance. Specifically, a PMISAKF is used to estimate the system’s state and external disturbances in real-time. These observed disturbances are then treated as known external inputs at the current or future time points and incorporated into the predictive model of MPC. This allows the optimization process to take these external factors into consideration, enabling the calculation of an optimal control strategy and achieving high pointing and tracking accuracy for nonlinear time-varying disturbances. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the system’s anti-interference ability and tracking accuracy.

The dual-motor precision transmission mechanism (DMPTM) is an alternative way to eliminate backlash while ensuring the stiffness of the servo system. However, most of the established models of DMPTM are not accurate enough, and are not conducive to the optimization of system performance and the design of high-precision controllers. In this paper, based on the detailed linear model of the single components of the DMPTM, the dead-zone model, considering the time-varying stiffness, is proposed to describe the backlash of the two transmission chains, and the friction of the mechanism is depicted by the Stribeck model. Then, a high-precision dynamic model of the DMPTM is formed. Finally, the model validation experiments for the open-loop and closed-loop are carried out in the time domain and frequency domain. The experimental results show that the proposed model can accurately describe the nonlinear characteristics of the mechanism. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the proposed model and the actual system is $r_{\mathrm{open}-\mathrm{loop}}$ > 99.41%, for the open-loop, and $r_{\mathrm{closed}-\mathrm{loop}}$ > 83.7%, for the closed-loop, and these results are both better than those of the existing model. In the frequency domain, whether it is the open-loop or closed-loop model, the frequency response of the proposed model also reproduces the actual system well, which verifies the accuracy of the model.

In order to improve the state monitoring and adaptive control capability of inertial stabilization platforms (ISPs) with unknown loads, it is necessary to estimate the dynamic parameters comprehensively online. However, most current online estimation methods regard the system as a linear dual-inertia model which neglects the backlash and nonlinear friction torque. It reduces the accuracy of the model and leads to incomplete and low accuracy of the estimated parameters. The purpose of this research is to achieve a comprehensive and accurate online estimation of multiple parameters of ISPs and lay a foundation for state monitoring and adaptive control of ISPs. First, a dual-inertia model containing backlash and nonlinear friction torque of the motor and load is established. Then, the auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) model of the motor and load is established by the forward Euler method, which clearly expresses the online identification formula of the parameters. On this basis, the adaptive identification method based on the recursive extended least squares (RELS) algorithm is used to realize the online estimation of multiple parameters. The simulation and experimental results show that the proposed adaptive multi-parameter estimation method can realize the simultaneous online identification of the moment of inertia of the load, the damping coefficient of motor and load, the transmission stiffness, the Coulomb friction torque of motor and load, and the backlash, and the steady-state error is less than 10%. Compared with the traditional linear dual-inertia model, the similarity between the model based on the proposed adaptive parameter estimation algorithm and the actual system is increased by 65.3%.

An electromagnetic brake is the key basic component to ensure the safety of robot joints. The conventional electromagnetic brake mostly uses a set of springs to provide braking force and solenoid power to provide a recovery force, which makes this kind of brake with large thickness and small braking torque that is not conducive to the application in light and small joint components. In many design processes, unclear understanding of the machine-electric-magnetic coupling characteristics leads to relatively simple theoretical models and inaccurate theoretical results, which do not provide more help for subsequent designs. In this paper, a hollow-ring type permanent magnetic power-loss protection brake, integrated inside a joint assembly, is designed. The brake uses rare earth Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets to provide braking suction instead of ordinary spring packs, and achieves motion guidance and braking torque transmission by means of leaf spring. Combined with the deformation model of the leaf spring and the magnetic circuit models of the brake under the power-on and power-off conditions, the overall coupling dynamics model of the brake is established. The theoretical results are compared through finite-element software, and a prototype is produced for experimental testing. Finally, the accuracy and validity of the theoretical model are verified, providing a theoretical and experimental basis for the design of this type of brake.