A novel finite time sliding mode control for robotic manipulators

A novel robust control law with finite time convergence for rigid robotic manipulators is proposed in this paper. The whole control process is divided into two phases, i.e., the error correction phase and the steady tracking phase. Firstly, a novel time-varying sliding mode control (TVSMC) method is developed in the first phase to ensure the tracking error converge to zero at the desired time. Subsequently, the nonsingular terminal sliding mode control (NTSMC) technique is employed to keep the tracking error maintaining zero during the second phase. The associated control commands are free from singularity and convenient for practical implementation. Besides, the convergence rate can be tuned via appropriate parameter adjustment. By the virtue of global sliding mode, the system is global robust against the external disturbances and parametric uncertainties. Numerical simulations are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control law.