Model Predictive Control for Cable-Driven Remote Actuation Systems with Friction and Compliance

Abstract

In this work, we model and control a cable-driven, remote-actuated system that includes both friction and compliance in its dynamics. The control objective is to solve a regulation problem using a Model Predictive Controller (MPC). Unlike the flexible-joint robot models, which typically assume frictionless compliant elements, the proposed model incorporates friction forces between two compliant cable-sheaths that connect the motor to the driven link. Three controllers are developed based on the cascade control principles integrated with the MPC framework. Their performance is evaluated through both simulations and experiments on a custom-designed testbed. The results demonstrate that the MPC-Cascade control scheme achieves the best overall performance, with fast convergence and low control effort.