Simple learning control made practical by zero-phase filtering: Applications to robotics

Iterative learning control (ILC) applies to control systems that perform the same finite-time tracking command repeatedly. It iteratively adjusts the command from one repetition to the next in order to reduce the tracking error. This creates a two-dimensional (2-D) system, with time step and repetition number as independent variables. The simplest form of ILC uses only one gain times one error in the previous repetition, and can be shown to converge to the zero-tracking error independent of the system dynamics. Hence, it appears very effective from a mathematical perspective. However, in practice, there are unacceptable learning transients. A zero-phase low-pass filter is introduced here to eliminate the bad transients. The main purpose of this paper is to supply a journal presentation of experiments on a commercial robot that demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, improving the tracking accuracy of the robot performing a high speed maneuver by a factor of 100 in six repetitions. Experiments using a two-gain ILC reaches this error level in only three iterations. It is suggested that these two simple ILC laws are the equivalent for learning control, of proportional and PD control in classical control system design. Thus, what was an impractical approach, becomes practical, easy to apply, and effective.