This paper is devoted to the problem of force sensorless disturbance rejection in robot manipulators. In the proposed approach, the control system uses position sensor signals and estimated values of external forces, instead of force sensor signals. The estimation process is performed via an adaptive force estimator. Then the estimated force vector is utilized to compensate for the force disturbance effect in order to achieve a better trajectory tracking performance. The force estimation is carried out directly using no environment model. Asymptotical stability of the proposed control system is analyzed by the invariant set and Lyapunov direct method establishing an appropriate theorem. Finally, the performance of the proposed control system is verified using numerical simulation.

Consideration of manipulator dynamics and external disturbances in robot control system design can enhance the stability and performance properties of the whole system. In this paper, we present an approach to solve the control problem when the inertia parameters of robot are unknown, and at the same time robot is subjected to external force disturbances. This approach is based on simultaneous estimation of force signal and inertia parameters and utilizing them in the control law. The update laws and the control law are derived based on a single time-varying Lyapunov function, so that the global convergence of the tracking error is ensured. A theorem with a detailed proof is presented to guarantee the global uniform asymptotic stability of the whole system. Some simulations are made for a number of external forces to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.