904 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 61, NO.

2, FEBRUARY 2014
Piecewise Afne Modeling and Constrained Optimal
Control for a Pneumatic Articial Muscle
George Andrikopoulos, Student Member, IEEE, George Nikolakopoulos, Member, IEEE,
Ioannis Arvanitakis, and Stamatis Manesis
AbstractIn this paper, the modeling and control problem of
a pneumatic articial muscle (PAM) is being considered. The
PAM is an actuator characterized by a decrease in the actuating
length when pressurized. Its nonlinear nature and time-varying
parameters cause difculties in modeling their characteristics, as
well as in designing controllers for high-performance positioning
systems. A constrained linear and piecewise afne system model
approximation is formulated, and a control scheme composed of
the following is being synthesized: 1) a feedforward term regulat-
ing the control input at specic set points and 2) a constrained
nite-time optimal controller handling any deviations from the
systems equilibrium points. Extended experimental studies are
utilized to prove the efcacy of the suggested controller.
Index TermsConstrained control, feedforward control, uidic
muscle, optimal control, piecewise afne (PWA) system, pneumatic
muscle actuator.
I. INTRODUCTION
T
HE pneumatic articial muscle (PAM) [1], is a tube-like
actuator, which, when pressurized, decreases in actuating
length. In the related literature, it has also been known as
the McKibben articial muscle [2], [3], the pneumatic muscle
actuator, or the uidic muscle [4], [5], where the McKibben
muscle is the most utilized type of PAMs, invented in the 1950s
by Joseph L. McKibben and utilized as an orthotic appliance
for polio patients [6].
PAM typically consists of a rubber tube wrapped inside a
double helix synthetic ber netting at predetermined angle.
Protective rubber coating surrounds the ber wrapping, and
appropriate metal ttings are attached at each end.
A uidic muscle, depicted in Fig. 1, is one of the most
utilized commercially available muscle-type actuators in the
automation industry, while it differs from the classic McKibben
PAM as it utilizes a combined integration of the inner tube and
external shell to a single aramid-neoprene mesh. An extensive
overview of the most signicant PAM applications can be
found in [7].
Manuscript received May 25, 2012; revised November 26, 2012 and
February 24, 2013; accepted March 8, 2013. Date of publication March 22,
2013; date of current version August 9, 2013.
G. Andrikopoulos, I. Arvanitakis, and S. Manesis are with the Depart-
ment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, 26500
Rio, Greece (e-mail: andrikopg@ece.upatras.gr; arvanitakis@ece.upatras.gr;
stam.manesis@ece.upatras.gr).
G. Nikolakopoulos is with the Control Engineering Group, Lule University
of Technology, 97187 Lule, Sweden (e-mail: geonik@ltu.se).
Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TIE.2013.2254094
Fig. 1. Graphical representation of a PAM during (top) relaxation and
(bottom) contraction.
PAMs highly nonlinear nature and time-varying parameters
cause difculties in modeling their behavior and in designing
controllers for high-performance positioning systems. Thus,
PAMs present a challenging modeling and control problem.
In industrial environments, where PAM-actuated applica-
tions are being developed to perform various operations (e.g.,
aligning, pressing, drilling, gripping, clamping, handling, trans-
porting, or assembling), position control is of utmost impor-
tance. In addition, a bibliographical research on PAM-related
applications clearly shows the importance and the need of
researching an optimal solution to the positioning control
problem [7].
Some of the most signicant control design approaches for
PAM have been developed during the past 15 years. Those
control schemes have included a neural-network-based training
control algorithm [8], adaptive position control [9], variable
structure control [10], gain scheduling model-based control
[11], fuzzy control [12][14], nonlinear optimal predictive con-
trol [15], direct continuous-time adaptive control [16], neuro-
fuzzy PID control [17], neural network nonlinear PID control
[18], sliding-mode control [19], chattering-free robust variable
structure controller [20], hybrid distributed macro-mini control
[21], proxy sliding mode control [22], equilibrium-point control
[23], just-in-time control [24], and slave-side control [25].
Nowadays, the state-of-the-art research is focusing on both
seeking novel robotic designs based on PAM actuation and
increasing the efciency of PAMs in industrial applications
as linear actuators, where fast and very accurate positioning
systems are needed [7]. As the PAM is a new actuator type
and still there is an undergoing research in the following:
1) the physical properties of the device and 2) the modeling and
control efciency, this paper is focusing only on the fundamen-
tal problem of designing control schemes that would be able to
perform the following: 1) provide proper mathematical models
that could more precisely describe the nonlinear behavior of
PAMs and 2) improve the positioning accuracy while reducing
the transition time.
In this approach, the PAM is considered as a basic pneumatic
actuator, and issues regarding its integration in more complex
0278-0046 2013 IEEE
ANDRIKOPOULOS et al.: PWA MODELING AND CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL CONTROL FOR A PAM 905
systems are out of the scope of the presented research. How-
ever, the scientic results that will be presented and that have
been experimentally evaluated, from an engineering point of
view and without losing generalization, can form the basis for
increasing the overall performance and the accuracy of more
complicated PAM devices, e.g., exoskeletons.
The novelty of the proposed modeling and control scheme is
dual: 1) the nonlinearities of the PAM are being approximated
by a switching piecewise afne (PWA) modeling approach that
increases signicantly the accuracy of the model under differ-
ent set points while maintaining an accessible mathematical
description [26], and 2) an extended PWA approach is being
developed, which takes into account the alteration of PAM
dynamics during ination and deation operating states due to
intense hysteretic phenomena [27].
The proposed constrained nite-time optimal controller
(CFTOC) schemes objective is to compute, in an ofine man-
ner, a cost-optimal solution that generates the stabilizing control
effort by minimizing a quadratic cost objective over a receding
horizon [28]. The ofine computation of the control effort al-
lows the switching parameters storage according to the current
state vector value. Thus, the utilized approach proves to be
particularly suitable for real-time industrial control applications
since the controller searches for the optimal command in this
ofine formed index, instead of solving online the multipara-
metric optimization problem [29].
The utilized CFTOC structure has the following merits that
have not been utilized until now in the related state of the art:
1) the controller can take under consideration the mechanical,
physical, and application-based constraints acting on the states
and the control efforts; 2) the controller can utilize the multiple
PWA system representation and design an optimal switching
control lawfor the currently active PWA; and 3) based on theory
related to the CFTOC, the resulting switching control law is
able to guarantee stability of the overall closed-loop system,
independently of the switching sequence [26], [30]. These three
advantages make the adopted controller an ideal solution for
real-life applications, where high-precision, constrained, and
stable pneumatic positioning is needed.
In addition, the adopted CFTOC scheme has the same merits
and complexity as the model predictive control scheme [30],
with one major signicant advantage, the fact that CFTOC
proves stability among random switching sequences, when
multiple PWA system representations are being utilized.
This paper is structured as follows. In Section II, the funda-
mental modeling for static and dynamic PAM performance and
the constrained linear and PWA model approximation are being
presented. In Section III, a controller composed of the following
is being synthesized: 1) a feedforward term regulating control
input at specic set points and 2) a CFTOC handling any devi-
ations from the systems equilibrium points. The experimental
procedures for studying the hysteretic behavior that dominates
PAM response, as well as the optimal estimation of the coef-
cients that describe the dynamic model of a PAM, are being
presented in Section IV. Additionally, multiple experimental
studies are being performed to prove the efcacy of the sug-
gested controller in the ination/deation positioning problem
of a PAM. Finally, the conclusion is being drawn in Section VI.
Fig. 2. Simplied geometrical model of PAM.
Fig. 3. Three-element dynamic model of PAM.
II. PAM MODELING
In this section, an analysis of the most commonly utilized
modeling approaches for describing the static and dynamic
performance of PAMs is being presented, while the PWA model
approximation is being synthesized.
A. Force Model
In Fig. 2, the basic geometrical characteristics of PAM are
presented, while the utilized variables are being dened as the
following: l is the tube length, d is the bladder diameter, and is
the braid angle, i.e., the angle between the helical ber element
length and the longitudinal axis of the actuator [3]. As shown
in (1), the tension F is described as linearly proportional to
the relative pressure P, i.e., the absolute internal gas pressure
minus the environment pressure
F = r
2
0
P
_
a(1 )
2
b

(1)
where a = 3/ tan
2

0
, b = 1/ sin
2

0
, = (l
0
l)/l
0
, and r
0
,
l
0
, and
0
are the initial radius, the initial nominal length, and
the initial braid angle, respectively.
B. Dynamic Model
During expansion, PAM experiences viscoelastic resistance
which can be modeled as a damping and spring element. Thus,
PAM is being considered as a parallel pattern that consists of
a spring element S, a damping element D, and a contractile
element F
ce
as presented in Fig. 3 [15]. This model corresponds
to a PAM placed on the vertical position with one end xed and
an external load F
L
attached to the other end. The differential
equation that describes the overall system is the following:
M x +D x +Sx = F
ce
F
L
(2)
where x
+
is the displacement of the PAM, M is the mass
of the muscle, F
L
is the external load, S is the spring constant,
D is the damping coefcient, and F
ce
is the contractile muscle
force as shown in (1).
906 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 61, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2014
As it has been indicated in [15], at a steady state L, both
damping and spring coefcients are polynomial expressions of
pressure P and can be formulated as
D(P) =
n

i=0
d
i
P
i
(3)
S(P) =
n

i=0
s
i
P
i
(4)
with i, n Z
+
, n as the order of the approximated polynomial,
and d
i
, s
i
as the polynomial coefcients, correspondingly.
From (3) and (4), it can be observed that the higher the order,
the better the approximation is with a tradeoff in the complexity
of the nonlinear system.
C. PWA Model Approximation
The operating points x
op
j
, with j = {1, . . . , E} and j, E
Z
+
, depend on the applied nominal pressures P
op
j
under the
assumption of a constant load. Substituting (1) to (2) for x =
x = 0 yields
P
op
j
=
Sx
op
j
+F
L
r
2
0
_
a
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
_
2
b
_. (5)
The linearized equations of motion for the PAM around
multiple equilibrium points j can be formulated by considering
small perturbations around the variables x and P, x = x
op
j
+
x and P = P
op
j
+P, respectively.
By applying this linearization approach in (2), it yields
M x+D x+Sx
op
j
+Sx=F
ce
_
P
op
j
+P, x
op
j
+x
_
F
L
.
(6)
Considering the Taylor expansion of (1) around the operating
points and by utilizing up to rst-order terms, (6) becomes
F
ce
_
P
op
j
+P, x
op
j
+x
_
= r
2
0
P
op
j

a
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
_
2
b

+r
2
0

a
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
_
2
b

P
r
2
0
P
op
j
_
2a
l
0
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
_
b
_
x (7)
and substituting (5) to (7) yields
F
ce
_
P
op
j
+P, x
op
j
+x
_
=
_
Sx
op
j
+F
L
_
+r
2
0

a
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
_
2
b

_
Sx
op
j
+F
L
_
_
2a
l
0
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
__
_
a
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
_
2
b
_ x. (8)
Inserting the expression from (8) to (6) obtains
M x +D x +Qx = RP (9)
where Q = S + (Sx
op
j
+F
L
)/[a(1 x
op
j
/l
0
)
2
b][2a/l
0
(1
x
op
j
/l
0
)], which, by taking (5) into account, becomes Q = S +
P
op
j
r
2
0
[
2a
l
0
(1 x
op
j
/l
0
)], and R = r
2
0
[a(1 x
op
j
/l
0
)
2
b].
Addition of termM x
op
j
+D x
op
j
+Qx
op
j
on both sides of (9)
yields
M x +D x +Qx = Qx
op
j
+RP. (10)
The previous equation can be written as
x +
D
j
M
x +
Q
j
M
x =
Q
j
M
x
op
j
+
R
j
M
P (11)
where the jth subscript was used to denote the dependence of
the previous variables on the selected operating point.
The equivalent switching state space modeling, accounting
for small perturbations around the operating point x
op
j
, is being
described as
_
x
x
_
=
_
0 1

Q
j
M

D
j
M
_ _
x
x
_
+
_
0
R
j
M
_
P +
_
0
Q
j
M
x
op
j
_
(12)
or in an equivalent compact state space representation as
x =A
j
x +B
j
P +f
j
y =C
j
x +D
j
P (13)
where x = [x x]
T
X
2
and P P , with the sets
X and P used to specify the state and input operating regions
that contain the operating points in their interior and
A
j
=
_
0 1

S
j
M

2r
2
0
a
Ml
0
P
op
j
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
_

D
j
M
_
B
j
=
_
0
r
2
0
M
_
a
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
_
2
b
_
_
C
j
=
_
1 0
0 1
_
D
j
=
_
0
0
_
with the afne term denoted as
f
j
=
_
0
_
S
j
M
+
2r
2
0
a
Ml
0
P
op
j
_
1
x
op
j
l
0
__
x
op
j
_
.
The system described in (12) is switched as j belongs to a
nite set of indexes and N denotes the total number of switched
systems, with the current value of the x-state acting as the
switching rule. If is the polytope that contains all of the
switching systems, dened by the switching vertices [A
j
, B
j
],
it can be notated as
Co {[A
1
, B
1
], . . . , A
E
, B
E
} (14)
where the notation Co denotes the convex hull of the set and E
is the maximum number of allowed switches.
These linear time-invariant state space models can be trans-
formed into their discrete equivalents under the assumption of
a sampling process with a sampling period T
s
. The discrete
ANDRIKOPOULOS et al.: PWA MODELING AND CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL CONTROL FOR A PAM 907
models can be cast in a compact form as a set of PWA
subsystems
x(k + 1) =A

j
x(k) +B

j
P(k) +f

j
y(k) =C

j
x(k) +D

j
P(k) (15)
where k Z
+
, [x(k) P(k)]
T

i
, and
i
is a polyhedral
partition of the state-input space over which the different dy-
namics are active.
III. CONSTRAINED FINITE-TIME
OPTIMAL CONTROL SCHEME
Consider the discrete-time constrained PWA system de-
scribed by (15). The number of subsystems involved is the
adopted notation depends on the granularity of the selected
equilibrium points j = {1, . . . , E}.
Different segments of the polyhedral partitions are dened
using constraints on state and input variables. Let the state
vector and control effort be constrained within certain regions
(guard functions) or
H
x
j
x(k) +H
P
j
P(k) H
c
j
(16)
where H
x
j
, H
c
j
, and H
P
j
are polytope cell arrays posed on state
and input variables dening where the dynamics are active,
while no soft constraints have been posed on input and output
states, and therefore, no penalty matrices were involved.
Thus, the j dynamics represented by the tuple
[A

j
, B

j
, f

j
, C

j
, D

j
] will be active in the part of state-
input space which satises the constraints in (14). The same
equation partitions the (P X)
3
space into a set of
polyhedral
j
.
The controllers objective is to compute a cost-optimal so-
lution that generates the additional stabilizing P(k) control
effort by minimizing a quadratic cost objective over a receding
horizon as
P(k) = min
P(0),,,P(N1)

_
x(N)
T
Wx(N)
+
N1

i=0
_
P(k)
T
UP(k)+x(k)
T
Vx(k)
+(y(k) y
ref
)
T
V
y
(y(k) y
ref
)
_
_
(17)
where N is the prediction horizon interval and V, V
y
, U, and
W are the weighting matrices on the states, the outputs, the
control effort, and the terminal state, respectively.
This CFTOC [28], [30] is computed as a PWA feedback
control of the following form:
P(k) = F
j
x(k) +G
j
, if x(k)
j
(18)
where F
j
and G
j
are the afne state-feedback law matrices,
while
j
is the jth active polyhedral spanning the space
affected by the prediction horizon N; the guard functions
Fig. 4. Proposed overall feedforward and constrained optimal control
framework.
dened in (16); the parameters U, V, and W; and the future
values of x(k +N) involved in the formulation of the cost
function in (17). The number of computed polyhedral depends
on the length of the prediction horizon N and the nature of the
guard functions. To ensure stability and constraint satisfaction
of the closed-loop system for all the operation time, the
invariant linear quadratic regulator terminal set is posed on the
constraints [30].
The overall control framework appears in Fig. 4, where it is
shown that the suggested controller consists of the following:
1) a feedforward portion that utilizes (5) and generates the
control effort P
o
based on the desired position x
ref
and 2) the
multiparametric controller generating the deviation P to ac-
count for any perturbations along the nominal desired position.
The proposed multiparametric control function is dual as it
takes into account the dynamic alterations between ination and
deation operating states in order to compensate for the intense
nonlinear phenomena that result in the hysteretic behavior of
the PAM.
Specically, the velocity x is extracted from the state feed-
back, and its sign is utilized as the switch signal r used for
activating the appropriate CFTOC depending on the operating
state that the reference signal imposes. A Schmitt-trigger-based
lter is also imposed on signal r in order to avoid uncontrollable
switching due to minor measurement inaccuracies of the laser
distance sensor. The aforementioned switching signal is being
denoted as
r(k) =

1 for x(k) g
r(k 1) for | x(k)| < g
1 for x(k) g
(19)
where g = 0.03 m/s is an empirical ne-tuned constant, derived
from extended experimental trials by taking into account the
measurement accuracy of the laser distance sensor.
Furthermore, the jth active PWA subsystem, which corre-
sponds to the current value of the x-state and the operating
state r, is extracted via a lookup table. The spring coefcient
S estimate, corresponding to the current operating state r and
the active PWA subsystemj, is also extracted via a lookup table
and is utilized for calculation of the feedforward control effort
P
o
via (5).
908 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 61, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2014
Fig. 5. Experimental setup.
It should be noted that the calculation of the CFTOC effort
P(k) is being performed in an ofine manner, allowing the
switching parameters storage with respect to the corresponding
state vector values. Rather than solving online the multipara-
metric optimization problem, the controller searches for the
optimal command in this ofine formed index, thus making the
presented approach ideal for real-time implementation of
the proposed control scheme.
In multiparametric approaches, despite the ofine computa-
tion of a feedback law, the exponential number of transitions
between regions, which can occur when a controller is com-
puted in a dynamic programming fashion, is the main reason
why such high-complexity programs require tedious ofine
calculations for larger problems [29].
IV. EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES AND
CONTROL SCHEME EVALUATION
In this section, the experimental procedures for studying the
hysteretic behavior that dominates the PAM responses and the
procedure for the optimal estimation of the damping D and
spring S coefcients of (2) are being presented. In addition,
the proposed control structure is evaluated through multiple
experimental scenarios.
A. Ination and Deation Studies
The experimental setup that was utilized for the contraction
and extension experiments is depicted in Fig. 5. The setup
consists of a pneumatic muscle actuator on the vertical position
with its upper end clumped, a proportional pressure regulator, a
laser distance sensor, and a data acquisition card.
The wide utilization in automation industry, the commercial
availability, and the highly nonlinear phenomena during oper-
ation made the uidic PAM type the most suitable choice for
testing the control schemes efciency. Specically, the PAM
utilized in this testbed was a Festo MXAM-40-AA-DMSP-40-
305N-AM-CM uidic muscle with 40 mm internal diameter,
305 mm nominal length, 840 g mass, and operating pressure
range between 0 and 6 bar.
In addition, a Festo VPPM-8L-L-1-G14-0L10H-V1N-S1
proportional pressure regulator was used to regulate the supply
and pressure of the compressed air supplied into the PAM. A
Festo SOEL-RTD-Q50-PP-S-7L laser distance sensor is being
utilized to measure the under study PAMs displacement in
the vertical axis. The control of the setups operation, as well
as the data acquisition, was achieved by utilizing a National
Instruments USB-6215 data acquisition card, while the setups
programming was carried out in National Instruments Lab-
VIEW and Mathworks MATLAB via [31].
1) Hysteretic Behavior Study: Extended step pressure ex-
citation experiments were conducted in order to identify the
hysteretic behavior that dominates PAM response. Various non-
linear characteristics such as the following lead to hysteresis
phenomena that further complicate the PAM modeling and
control problem: 1) the compressibility of pressurized air;
2) the inherent hysteresis of the viscoelastic materials;
3) the friction phenomena from the braid mesh threads relative
motion and their contact with the inner elastic bladder; and
4) the complex geometric features of the outer braided shell
[32], [33].
In Fig. 6, an experimental step transition response between
0, 3, and 6 bar shows the PAMs displacement from its initial
relaxed state with respect to pressure. The initial relaxed state
corresponds to point a (x = 0 mm, P = 0 bar) in the afore-
mentioned gure. The PAMinates as 3 bar of pressurized air is
supplied into its interior, causing contraction that leads to point
b (x = 80.56 mm, P = 3 bar), and subsequently extends as
the muscle deates to 0-bar pressure, but the system stabilizes
around point c (x = 1.3 mm, P = 0 bar) instead of returning
to its initial relaxed state. Then, the PAM contracts to 6 bar
of pressure and reaches point d (x = 91.59 mm, P = 6 bar),
extends as 3 bar of pressure is supplied, stabilizing around point
e (x = 84.70 mm, P = 3 bar) instead of returning to point
b, and subsequently inates to 6 bar of pressure returning
to point d. Finally, deation with 0 bar of pressure leads to
system stabilization around point c. Points ac and be
show that PAM dynamics undergo change during ination and
deation, and that characteristic must be taken into account for
modeling and control purposes.
Specically, the step transition response of Fig. 6 shows
that the hysteretic behavior of PAM presents local memory
characteristics, where the future output depends on the future
input, the present output, and the nonlocal memory properties.
The future output depends not only on the current output and
the future input but also on the past input values [34].
Thus, in the case of PAMs, complex hysteresis phenomena
cause alteration of PWA dynamics during ination and dea-
tion, which creates the necessity of performing contraction and
extension experiments to estimate the S and D coefcients for
both ination and deation operating states, treating the overall
dynamic system as dual.
ANDRIKOPOULOS et al.: PWA MODELING AND CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL CONTROL FOR A PAM 909
Fig. 6. Hysteretic behavior during step pressure excitation of a PAM.
2) Dynamic Model Element Estimation: In order to utilize
the dynamic relationships that describe the proposed PWA
system modeling approach, identication of the coefcients s
i
and d
i
of (3) and (4) is required. For this reason, an initial
experimental procedure for a rough estimation of these values
has been performed [35].
The dynamic experiments for the estimation of the aforemen-
tioned elements were conducted on the test system utilizing
vertical layout with steady-state F
L
. With no additional load
attached to the PAM and considering that the upper end of the
muscle is clumped, half of its mass is supported; the F
L
load is
constant and is equal to half the weight of the PAM.
Considering the previous studies in [15], the method for the
case of estimating the damping and spring coefcients could be
simplied by ignoring the inertial termM x and considering (2)
as a rst-order system, resulting in a rough initial estimation of
the D and S parameters. Thus, (2) becomes
D x +Sx = F
ce
F
L
. (20)
For step changes in pressure and F
ce
> F
L
, the solution of
(20) yields
x(t) =
F
ce
F
L
S
_
1 e

S
D
t
_
= x
max
_
1 e

S
D
t
_
(21)
where x
max
is the maximum contraction at steady state. The
aforementioned equation relates the damping D and spring S
coefcients with the displacement x, the contraction force F
ce
,
and the load F
L
. To provide independent estimates of the model
elements as functions of the pressure P, two separate ination
and deation studies were conducted to parameterize the damp-
ing D(P) and spring constant S(P) responses [15] with the
utilization of the theoretical solution described previously.
During the estimation-related experiments, the proportional
pressure regulator was disconnected from the pneumatic cir-
cuit. Instead of utilizing a regulator and inserting its dynamic
characteristics into the PAM model approximation, the ination
and deation experiments were performed by connecting the
test PAM directly to the pneumatic systems compressor. By
utilizing a pneumatic switch as a step input function, the
excitation of the test PAM was performed via a preadjusted
circuit to the respective test pressure. Subsequently, via bypass
of the regulators dynamic effect, the PAMs response data were
kept unaffected by external dynamic inuencing as possible.
Similar approaches to the technique described previously have
also been utilized in [2], [15], and [27].
Furthermore, the external effects concerning differences on
how fast the air can get in and out of the muscle have been
brought to a minimum. Specically, during all of the presented
experimental trials, fast exhaust outlets were being placed
directly after the pneumatic connection of the test PAM so as
to allow the fastest possible air exhaustion.
For the ination experiments, successive PAM contractions
were conducted, with pressures between 0.5 and 6 bar (50
600 kPa) by 0.25-bar increments. The force coefcients F
ce
at each pressure were estimated from (1) for x = x
max
,
while the spring element S was estimated at each state by the
following equation:
S =
F
ce
F
L
x
max
. (22)
From (21), the time constant of the displacement response is
equal to
=
D
S
. (23)
Based on these displacement responses, the corresponding
time constants were estimated, and the damping element D was
calculated at each state using (23).
For the deation experiments, the same overall procedure
was followed, but in this case, the PAM performed successive
extensions from initial pressure of 6 bar and nal-state pressure
of 16 bar by 0.25-bar decrements in order to measure the
respective maximum displacement x
max
and subsequently
compute the spring coefcients S from (22).
In addition, relaxation studies were conducted at which the
PAM was subjected to successive deations, with initial-state
pressures between 1 and 6 bar (100600 kPa) by 0.25-bar
increments and zero nal-state pressure. Based on these dis-
placement responses, the corresponding time constants were
estimated, and the damping element D was calculated at each
state from (23) by utilizing the spring coefcients S extracted
from the deation experiments.
As it has been already mentioned, ignoring the inertial term
M x and considering (2) as a rst-order system result in a
rough initial estimation of the D and S parameters. In order
to further improve that estimation, extended manual ne-tuning
was performed on the simulated nonlinear PAM system of (2),
concerning ination/deation operating states.
The extracted S and D experimental data were utilized for
the generation of two piecewise linear (PWL) approximations,
which contain 6 and 11 linear representations of the aforemen-
tioned coefcients. The two approximation strategies will be
integrated in the control scheme described in the next section.
The obtained results for the following are displayed in Fig. 7:
1) the experimental dependence of the spring coefcient S to
910 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 61, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2014
Fig. 7. Spring coefcient S PWL estimates extracted from (top) ination and
(bottom) deation experiments for both approximation strategies.
Fig. 8. Damping coefcient D PWL estimates extracted from (top) ination
and (bottom) deation experiments for both approximation strategies.
the applied pressure P and 2) the two PWL approximations
of S that are being utilized in the next section. The respective
results concerning the damping coefcient D experimental data
and their PWL approximations are presented in Fig. 8.
As it has been observed in [15] and experimentally evaluated
in the provided results, the dependence of S from P at low
pressures is different than the one in higher pressures. In the
case of pressures lower than 1 bar, the nonlinearities of the PAM
tend to become more intense. This is one of the main reasons
why PAMs are usually operated in higher pressures. Regarding
both PWL approximation strategies, the range from 0 to 1 bar
has been taken into account as one region.
Furthermore, the experiments presented previously were per-
formed on a PAM with 40 mm diameter and 305 mm nominal
length, mostly utilized in heavy industrial applications. Mainly
due to its fairly large dimensions, that kind of PAM is a system
characterized by inherently large settling times on the order of
TABLE I
PAM PWL APPROXIMATION (E = 6) CHARACTERISTICS
FOR INFLATION AND DEFLATION OPERATING STATES
TABLE II
PAM PWL APPROXIMATION (E = 11) CHARACTERISTICS
FOR INFLATION AND DEFLATION OPERATING STATES
a second. This manufacturing fact was being elaborated further
by the additional time constant data extracted from (23) and
presented in Tables I and II.
ANDRIKOPOULOS et al.: PWA MODELING AND CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL CONTROL FOR A PAM 911
B. Control Scheme Experimental Evaluation
Experimental studies were carried on the setup described in
Section IV and displayed in Fig. 5. The test PAM is a Festo u-
idic muscle with operating pressure range between 0 and 6 bar
and allowable displacement of x [0, 0.915]m.
The selection of the utilized PWA models number is a
process that needs a trade-off among the desired accuracy in
the positioning task and the overall complexity of the result-
ing CFTOC scheme. In general, small E results in simpler
controller architecture (small number of regions) with a small
positioning accuracy, while a large E results in a controller with
an increased complexity (large number of regions) and a high
accuracy.
Based on the previous analysis and depending on the applica-
tion requirements and existing computational capabilities, an it-
erative procedure can be adopted for tuning E. As the presented
problem in this paper concerns the fundamental modeling and
control of a PAM, the value of E will remain xed in case of
integrating the PAM component in a more complex robotic or
automation structure.
Having estimated the relations of S(P) and D(P) by con-
ducting the experimental procedure presented in Section IV-A,
two model approximation strategies have been utilized in order
to further analyze the alterations and overall dependence of the
control schemes efcacy and complexity to the PWA model
structure. Specically, the total number of PWA subsystems has
been properly tuned as E = 6 and E = 11, which correspond
to 6 and 11 linearization points for each of the two operating
states, respectively.
In the case of six PWA subsystems per state, operational
regions boundary elements have been selected as the steady-
state values, dened in Section IV as x
max
, of the PAM
system open-loop response for pressures from 0 to 600 kPa,
in intervals of 100 kPa. For the examined case, the correspond-
ing linearization points have been selected as the steady-state
values x
max
of the PAM system open-loop response for the
middle-point pressures P
op
from 50 to 550 kPa, with 100-kPa
intervals.
In the case of 11 PWA subsystems per state, operational re-
gions boundary elements have been selected as the steady-state
values for pressures from 0 to 600 kPa, in intervals of 50 kPa.
In this case, the corresponding linearization points have been
selected as the steady-state values for the middle-point pres-
sures P
op
equal to 50 kPa and from 125 kPa to 575 kPa, with
50-kPa intervals.
Based on the assumption of linear relationships of S(P) and
D(P) inside an operational region, the linear approximations
presented in Figs. 6 and 7, the operational parameters, the
respective regions, and the time constant data for both ination
and deation states are presented in Table I for the six-PWL
approximation and in Table II for the 11-PWL approximation.
Each linearized PWA subsystem is valid in only one of
these regions. Therefore, the guard functions for x
j
in the jth
operating region are the corresponding boundaries of the re-
gion. In these simulation studies, no constraint is posed on the
state velocity x, while the control feedback effort has been con-
strained, having a guard function of 100 P 100 (kPa).
Fig. 9. Controller regions with respect to prediction horizon N for E = 6 and
11 and for (top) ination and (bottom) deation operating states.
Fig. 10. Polyhedral partitioning for E = 6, N = 3, over 135 and 168 con-
troller regions, and (top) ination and (bottom) deation operating states,
respectively.
The goal of the controller is to solve the set-point problem
which drives all outputs toward the desired ones (set-point
regulation). The parameters involved in the quadratic cost ob-
jective (17) were set as V = V
y
= 10
6
I
22
, U = 10
4
, and
W= 0
22
. The number of controller regions and polyhedral
involved in the partitioning of the [x, x] space with respect to
the prediction horizon N = 1, . . . , 5 appears in Fig. 9.
An increase in the prediction horizon N results in a sig-
nicant increase to the number of polyhedral partitions and
provides minimal performance improvement of the closed-
loop PAM systems response. A decrease to N simplies the
controllers regional structure but worsens the overall response
characteristics. For that reason, the experimental responses
presented in this section were acquired for a specic prediction
horizon equal to N = 3, which results in a trade-off between
control complexity and optimal performance.
The proposed explicit control approach is visualized in
Figs. 10 and 11, where a 3-D lookup table correlates the two
measured states with the computed control effort, resulting in
the selection of the controllers corresponding region and the
respective control action.
912 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 61, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2014
Fig. 11. Polyhedral partitioning for E = 11, N = 3, over 377 and 528
controller regions, and (top) ination and (bottom) deation operating states,
respectively.
Regarding the implementation, the generated CFTOC is be-
ing calculated ofine by the utilization of MATLAB and the
MPT toolbox [31]. In the sequel, the control structure is being
transferred to LabVIEW where a binary search tree method is
being followed by utilizing the lookup search function provided
by the MPT toolbox. In this approach, the input to the ofine
calculated CFTO control structure is the current state vector.
As shown in Fig. 10, for N = 3 and E = 6, the space is
partitioned into 135 and 168 controller regions for ination
and deation operating states, respectively, which correspond
to their respective feedback control effort. Fig. 11 displays
the increase in the number of regions for the denser model
approximation of N = 3 and E = 11.
The experimental data presented in the following discussion
are being accompanied by responses acquired via PID control
of the PAM setup. The purpose is to compare the response
attributes and characteristics of the proposed control scheme
with those of a conventional and widely used control strategy.
The PID control parameters utilized in the experiments have
been ne-tuned after extensive trial-and-error sequences.
The experimental ination responses of the PAMs displace-
ment x and velocity x for N = 3, with initial states x
initial
=
[0, 0] and desired states 1) x
ref
= [0.06, 0], 2) x
ref
= [0.08, 0],
and 3) x
ref
= [0.086, 0], are being presented in Fig. 12.
The PIDresponses, which are also being displayed in Fig. 12,
have their respective gain parameters tuned to the following:
1) K
p
=59.5, K
i
=41.8, and K
d
=3.6; 2) K
p
=71.3, K
i
=
67.1, and K
d
=2.8; and 3) K
p
=118.8, K
i
=90.4, and K
d
=4.6.
Regarding the aforementioned ination responses, both
CFTOC implementations are characterized by rapid conver-
gence, absence of state uctuations and input oscillations, and
small mean steady-state errors. The increase in the number
of the PWA subsystems E led to a decrease in settling time
and steady-state error. In addition, comparison to the respective
PID responses showed the superiority of the proposed control
scheme regarding settling times and mean steady-state errors,
which are displayed in Table III.
The experimental deation response of the PAMs displace-
ment x and velocity x for N=3, with initial states x
initial
=
Fig. 12. PAM displacement x responses for N = 3, x
initial
= [0, 0], and
(a) x
ref
= [0.06, 0], (b) x
ref
= [0.08, 0], and (c) x
ref
= [0.086, 0]. The
CFTOC responses for E = 6 and E = 11 are compared to their respective
ones acquired via conventional PID control.
TABLE III
MEAN STEADY-STATE ERROR OF THE
EXPERIMENTAL INFLATION RESPONSES
Fig. 13. PAM displacement x response for N = 3, x
initial
= [0.085, 0],
and x
ref
= [0.075, 0]. The CFTOC responses for E = 6 and E = 11 are
compared to their respective ones acquired via conventional PID control.
[0.085, 0] and desired states x
ref
=[0.075, 0], for both CFTOC
implementations are being presented in Fig. 13. In addition to
the CFTOCs, the respective PI and PID control responses are
also displayed in the same gure while ne-tuned to K
p
=456.7
and K
i
=63.4, and K
p
=206.3, K
i
=103.8, and K
d
=1.2.
The responses of both CFTOC implementations are char-
acterized by rapid convergence, absence of major state
ANDRIKOPOULOS et al.: PWA MODELING AND CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL CONTROL FOR A PAM 913
Fig. 14. PAM displacement x and respective error signal e = x
ref
x for
N = 3, x
initial
= [0, 0], and pulse reference signal ranging between 0.07 and
0.09 mm.
Fig. 15. PAM displacement x and respective error signal e = x
ref
x for
N = 3, x
initial
= [0, 0], and sinusoidal reference signal ranging between 0.08
and 0.09 mm at 0.4 Hz.
uctuations, and small mean steady-state errors. Settling time
is decreased in the case of E = 11, while the steady-state error
also decreases from 0.309% for E = 6 to 0.0221%. In this case,
comparison to the respective PI and PID responses shows that
these conventional controllers cannot achieve fast and smooth
control as they fail to compensate for the dynamic alterations
during sudden deation. The slow convergence rate of the PID
controller and the intense transient state phenomena of the PI
controller further prove the advanced efcacy of the proposed
control scheme.
The experimental response of the PAMs displacement x, an
enlarged portion of the aforementioned response for amelio-
rated visualization, and the respective error signal e = x
ref
x
for N = 3 and initial states of x
initial
= [0, 0], under pulse ref-
erence signal ranging between 0.07 and 0.09 mm at 0.1 Hz and
sinusoidal reference signal ranging between 0.08 and 0.09 mm
at 0.4 Hz, are shown in Figs. 14 and 15, respectively. In Figs. 16
Fig. 16. Velocity state x response, actual valve output pressure P, and jth
active CFTOC with respect to experimentation time for PAM response with the
pulse reference signal displayed in Fig. 14.
Fig. 17. Velocity state x response, actual valve output pressure P, and jth
active CFTOC with respect to experimentation time for PAM response with the
sinusoidal reference signal displayed in Fig. 15.
and 17, the velocity response x, valve pressure, and jth active
CFTOC are being displayed. The respective PID responses
were acquired for the following: 1) K
p
= 153.2, K
i
= 95.3,
and K
d
= 1.2 and 2) K
p
= 146.2, K
i
= 84.3, and K
d
= 1.2.
The responses of both CFTOC implementations are char-
acterized by smooth control effort transition as the system
switches between operating states and neighboring regions,
which results in very small x state variations fromthe respective
sinusoidal and pulse reference signals. A slight decrease in
settling times and overall improved tracking of both reference
signals is observed for E = 11. Comparison to the respective
PID responses shows the superiority of the proposed CFTOC
scheme in achieving smooth and accurate responses while
compensating for the dynamic alterations during operating state
switching.
914 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 61, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2014
In both examined cases, the CFTOCs performance in track-
ing the pulse and sinusoidal reference signals of Figs. 14 and 15,
is considered successful and further proves the efcacy of the
proposed control scheme even when more complex reference
signals are being applied.
In the personal computer system utilized for the execution of
the experimental trials (Windows 7, 64-b, Intel i7 processor,
8-Gb RAM, and 64-b versions of LabVIEW and MATLAB
software), the mean execution time of the control scheme for
E = 6 was approximately 10 ms/cycle, with an additional
34 ms during the cycles, where a switch between operating
states and, thus, load functions of different controllers, oc-
curred. In the E = 11 system approximation, the mean execu-
tion time reached 15 ms (50% increase), with an even greater
increase of 100 ms during operating state switching cycles.
Subsequently, the increase in the number of PWA subsystems
led to a signicant increase in control complexity, and its effect
to execution characteristics is proportional to the frequency of
operating state switching posed by the reference signal.
As a general rule of thumb, by doubling the number of the
controllers regions, its mean execution time per cycle is being
characterized by an increase of approximately 50%. By per-
forming multiple experimental results and by evaluating control
structures under different congurations, it has been estimated
that retaining the produced control regions below 2550 is a
sufcient constraint to meet the computational requirements for
a sampling time of T
s
= 0.1 s.
Overall, the proposed CFTOC manages to control the re-
sponse of a single large-diameter PAM with total absence of
overshoots, convergence with very small mean steady-state
errors, and response times comparable to the selected Fluidic
PAMs inherently large settling times.
Moreover, the CFTOC scheme compensates for the nonlin-
earities of the PAM system while managing successful set-
point regulation even in low pressures, where the nonlinear
phenomena become more intense, mainly due to the higher air
compressibility and elastic behavior of the materials.
In addition, no undesirable oscillations or suddenly induced
vibrations were observed during the experimental trials as
the hybrid control scheme manages smooth transition during
switching between operating states and subsystems. All of the
presented experimental responses display relatively high abso-
lute velocity (convergence speed) during initialization from the
zero position. During that initial phase, switching is limited
between the rst subsystems, which pose no sudden changes
in control action. During referential convergence, the system
reaches low velocities, ensuring the minimum switching con-
trol effort variations and avoidance of the larger switching
steps.
V. DISCUSSION
During long-run executions of the experimental studies de-
scribed in the previous section and as the execution time
progressed, a gradually increasing shift of the displacement
response of the PAM was observed.
Specically, as it is being displayed in Fig. 18, the PAM
displacement response, under a pulse reference signal and after
Fig. 18. Displacement shift after 40 min of response time, which corresponds
to 240 operating cycles, due to temperature rise inside the PAM.
Fig. 19. Pressuredisplacement hysteresis curve shift after 10 and 40 min
of response time, which corresponds to 60 and 240 operating cycles, due to
temperature rise inside the PAM.
40 min of execution time that corresponds to 240 operating
cycles, presented an increase of approximately 2.5 mm. It
should be noted that, during the displayed experiment, the valve
output pressure sequence, and thus the overall control effort,
remained unaltered. The respective pressuredisplacement hys-
teresis curve shift, which takes place after 60 and 240 operating
cycles, is being presented in Fig. 19.
A rst approach to this experimental observation has been
the nonlinear increase of the PAMs internal temperature with
ANDRIKOPOULOS et al.: PWA MODELING AND CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL CONTROL FOR A PAM 915
respect to operation time due to viscoelastic material properties
and friction phenomena from the braid mesh threads relative
motion and their contact with the inner bladder [32].
In the presented experimental results, the control scheme
fails to compensate for the gradual change in PAM dynamics,
mainly because the forcedisplacement equations utilized in
dynamic models encountered so far in bibliography lack the
temperature dependence caused by friction phenomena and the
materials viscoelastic properties.
The proposed control scheme is based on a multiple PWA
model approximation that consists of time-invariant state-space
models and utilizes an explicit controller that is computed in
an ofine manner, while the merits of the proposed CFTOC
scheme, highlighted in the manuscript, are the ability of the
controller to perform the following: 1) take under considera-
tion the mechanical and physical constraints on the states and
the control actions; 2) take under consideration the adopted
multiple PWA switching modeling approach; and 3) design a
switching controller that will be able to guarantee overall sta-
bility of the closed-loop system independently of the switching
sequence.
Therefore, the modeling technique cannot take into account
the effect of time-varying parameters that occur due to the
PAMs viscoelastic properties and temperature dependence, and
the proposed control structure cannot be combined with an
adaptation strategy. As part of future work, the authors will
investigate the combination of the suggested adaptation scheme
with different adaptive PWA modeling approaches that could be
integrated in procedures utilizing iterative learning techniques,
where the model identication procedure and the control syn-
thesis are repeated after specic time intervals for updating the
appropriateness of the model and the overall performance of the
controller [36], [37].
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the modeling and control problem of a PAM
has been examined. The novelty of the presented modeling
approach and control scheme is triple: 1) the nonlinearities
of the PAM have been approximated by a switching PWA
modeling approach; 2) an extended PWA approach is being
developed, which takes into account the alteration of PAM
dynamics during ination and deation operating states due
to intense hysteretic phenomena; and 3) to the authors best
knowledge, this is the rst time that a CFTOC scheme has
been applied to the case of a PAM. Multiple experimental
studies were conducted to estimate the elements that describe
the PAMs PWA dynamic characteristics and, subsequently,
to investigate and evaluate the efcacy of the suggested con-
troller in multiple positioning references for the PAM. The
proposed PWA modeling approach increased signicantly the
accuracy of the nonlinear models approximation under differ-
ent set points and between ination/deation operating states
while maintaining an accessible mathematical description. The
CFTOCscheme resulted in an optimal control of each operating
region and ensured the control efforts smooth transition as
the system switched between operating states and neighboring
regions.
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George Andrikopoulos (S12) was born in Patras,
Greece, in 1986. He received the B.Sc. degree in
electrical and computer engineering from the Uni-
versity of Patras, Rio, in 2010, where he is currently
working toward the Ph.D. degree.
He has served as a reviewer for several interna-
tional journals and conferences. His current research
interests are mainly focused on modeling and control
of pneumatic articial muscles for generic use in
the elds of industrial automation, biomimetics, and
medical robotics.
George Nikolakopoulos (M04) received the Ph.D.
degree from the Department of Electrical and Com-
puter Engineering, University of Patras, Rio, Greece,
in 2006.
He is an Assistant Professor with the Control
Engineering Group, Division of Systems and In-
teraction, Faculty of Automatic Control Systems,
Lule University of Technology, Lule, Sweden.
His published scientic works include more than
90 published papers in international journals and
conference proceedings in his elds of interest. His
main research interests include elds such as networked controlled systems,
mechatronics, wireless sensor networks and actuators, AUVs, UAVs, robotics,
adaptive control, and system identication. He was a project manager in
several R&D projects funded by the EU, ESA, and Greek National Ministry
of Research.
Prof. Nikolakopoulos received the Information Societies Technologies (IST)
Prize Award for the best paper that promotes the scopes of the European
IST (currently known as ICT) in 2003. Moreover, he has served as an IPC
member for ICIT2011, CASE2010, ETFA2010, ECC09, MED09, MIC09,
and MIC10 international conferences and has been an Associate Editor and
Reviewer for several international journals and conferences.
Ioannis Arvanitakis received the Diploma in elec-
trical and computer engineering from the University
of Patras, Rio, Greece, in 2009, where he is currently
working toward the Ph.D. degree in the eld of
cooperative simultaneous localization and mapping
(SLAM) of mobile robots.
He is a member of the Anemos Group. His
main research interests include unmanned ground
vehicles, navigation and motion planning of mo-
bile robots, obstacle avoidance algorithms, SLAM
algorithms, and optimization theory. He has been a
reviewer for several international conferences.
Stamatis Manesis received the Ph.D. degree from
the School of Engineering, University of Patras, Rio,
Greece, in 1986.
He is a Professor of industrial automation with
the Division of Systems and Control, Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department, University of
Patras. In 19981999, he was with the Industrial
Control Centre, Strathclyde University, Glasgow,
U.K. In 2008, he was an academic visitor with
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. He has designed
various industrial automation systems for Hellenic
industries. He has published over 90 conference and journal papers and has
written ve textbooks. His main research interests include industrial control,
industrial automation, industrial networks, expert fuzzy control systems, intelli-
gent controllers, and SCADA systems. His research has been funded by several
national projects (PABE, EPE, and Karatheodori Program). He has participated
in various EU Projects such as STRIDE/LIGHT, ESPRIT, and EKT.