In this article, we propose a neuroadaptive control method for quarter-vehicle active suspension systems, incorporating a bioinspired reference model and a fully actuated system approach, specifically designed to address systematic uncertainties and input dead zone constraints. Specifically, the radial basis function neural networks are employed to approximate the systematic uncertainties and input dead zones. Inspired by the inherent features and advantages of fully actuated systems, this article proposes the first fully actuated system-based continuous adaptive control approach for active suspension systems. Moreover, a biologically inspired, bioinspired reference model is deliberately employed to take advantage of favorable nonlinear stiffness and damping effects. Different from existing fully actuated system approaches, the designed control method can guarantee the state converges to zero rather than a small region. The experimental results confirm that the designed control method achieves significant enhancements in transient performance, with improvement of up to 31% or more, and also results in control energy saving of up to 32% or more when compared with existing control methods.

This paper proposes a novel energy-efficient control method for vehicle suspensions that addresses key application-oriented issues, including inevitable disturbance, inherent nonlinearity, state-coupling effects, and energy consumption. Unlike conventional schemes, the proposed method explicitly quantifies the influence of disturbance and state-coupling by designing dedicated effect indicators and exploiting the beneficial aspects of nonlinear dynamics. Positive effects are harnessed, while negative effects are transformed into advantageous contributions, thereby delivering superior robustness, lower energy consumption, and improved response rapidity. Specifically, a fuzzy disturbance observer is developed to accurately estimate the disturbance factors, including both parametric/unmolded uncertainty and external disturbance. Effect indicators are introduced to characterize the positive and negative impacts of disturbance and coupling on the active suspension system, and these insights are incorporated into the design of a novel adaptive controller. In addition, biologically inspired nonlinear reference model is deliberately introduced to make use of favorable nonlinear stiffness and damping effects. Furthermore, Lyapunov’s theory is employed to ensure the asymptotic stability of the overall suspension system. Experimental validation demonstrated that the proposed approach achieves excellent transient performance and significant energy savings, with reductions of up to 80% or more.

In practical applications, tower cranes often operate in outdoor environments and are subject to a variety of disturbances. Additionally, the control performance is significantly affected by uncertain dynamics, such as frictional forces and payload mass. To address these challenges, this paper presents a novel adaptive fuzzy control mechanism for nonlinear 5-degree of freedom (5-DOF) tower cranes with variable cable length. The proposed fuzzy adaptive mechanism leverages fuzzy logic to compensate for dynamic uncertainties and external disturbances thereby enhancing the overall robustness of the controlled system. Moreover, to ensure safe operation and avoid collisions, auxiliary constraint terms are introduced to restrict the actuated state variables within predefined bounds throughout the transportation process. In particular, an adaptive law is developed to accurately estimate the payload mass， which is critical for precise cable positioning. To the best of our knowledge, this work proposes a novel adaptive fuzzy closed-loop control framework for 5-DOF tower crane systems with varying cable lengths. The framework systematically integrates online payload mass estimation, state variable constraints, and fuzzy adaptive compensation to improve system stability and robustness. Based on the Lyapunov technique and Barbalat’s lemma, the system stability is theoretically analyzed and proven. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed controller is validated by hardware experiments.