ENGINEERING Information Technology & Electronic Engineering  2026 Vol.27 No.9 P.1-16

http://doi.org/10.1631/ENG.ITEE.2026.0166


Adaptive practical fixed-time tracking control with prescribed performance for robotic manipulators


Author(s):  Xiaofei LI, Jin WANG, Haiyun ZHANG, Guodong LU, Yifei CHEN, Jiachun WU, Chi ZHANG

Affiliation(s):  1. State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310027,China more

Corresponding email(s):   dwjcom@zju.edu.cn

Key Words:  Adaptive time-delay estimation, Adaptive fixed-time control, Dynamic uncertainties, Prescribed performance, Robotic manipulator, Tracking control


Xiaofei LI, Jin WANG, Haiyun ZHANG, Guodong LU, Yifei CHEN, Jiachun WU, Chi ZHANG. Adaptive practical fixed-time tracking control with prescribed performance for robotic manipulators[J]. Journal of Zhejiang University Science C, 2026, 27(9): 1-16.

@article{title="Adaptive practical fixed-time tracking control with prescribed performance for robotic manipulators",
author="Xiaofei LI, Jin WANG, Haiyun ZHANG, Guodong LU, Yifei CHEN, Jiachun WU, Chi ZHANG",
journal="Journal of Zhejiang University Science C",
volume="27",
number="9",
pages="1-16",
year="2026",
publisher="Zhejiang University Press & Springer",
doi="10.1631/ENG.ITEE.2026.0166"
}

%0 Journal Article
%T Adaptive practical fixed-time tracking control with prescribed performance for robotic manipulators
%A Xiaofei LI
%A Jin WANG
%A Haiyun ZHANG
%A Guodong LU
%A Yifei CHEN
%A Jiachun WU
%A Chi ZHANG
%J Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering
%V 27
%N 9
%P 1-16
%@ 1869-1951
%D 2026
%I Zhejiang University Press & Springer
%DOI 10.1631/ENG.ITEE.2026.0166

TY - JOUR
T1 - Adaptive practical fixed-time tracking control with prescribed performance for robotic manipulators
A1 - Xiaofei LI
A1 - Jin WANG
A1 - Haiyun ZHANG
A1 - Guodong LU
A1 - Yifei CHEN
A1 - Jiachun WU
A1 - Chi ZHANG
J0 - Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering
VL - 27
IS - 9
SP - 1
EP - 16
%@ 1869-1951
Y1 - 2026
PB - Zhejiang University Press & Springer
ER -
DOI - 10.1631/ENG.ITEE.2026.0166


Abstract: 
Robotic manipulators often suffer from insufficient positioning accuracy due to dynamic uncertainties, while existing control algorithms struggle to simultaneously achieve fast response and high tracking precision and often rely on complex dynamic models that demand excessive computational power, hindering practical onboard deployment. To address these issues, we propose an advanced real-time capable onboard tracking controller for robotic manipulators with dynamic uncertainties, which can balance the overall control performance, computational complexity, and parameter setting. The controller is suitable for direct implementation on embedded hardware with limited computational resources, without requiring heavy dynamics computation or learning approximation. First, a model-free adaptive time-delay estimator is designed to estimate and compensate for the lumped dynamic uncertainties of the robotic manipulator, where the gain matrix is directly updated by the magnitude of the sliding mode variable of tracking error for excellent overall performance. Then, an adaptive fixed-time nonsingular terminal sliding mode controller with prescribed performance is developed to stabilize the tracking errors of the robotic manipulator in a predefined fixed time. The controller parameters determine an upper bound of the fixed convergence time through analytically derived expressions, where the actual settling time is automatically ensured regardless of the initial conditions. The fast response and accurate steady-state tracking are also guaranteed by the prescribed performance, such that the processing quality and efficiency of the robotic manipulator during real-time operation tasks can be improved. Moreover, the adaptive updating law for the tracking controller gain is designed to achieve fixed-time stability of the entire closed-loop states without the requirement of an exact upper bound of dynamic uncertainties or estimation errors. The proposed tracking control scheme for robotic manipulators is easy to implement owing to the convenient parameter setting and low computational burden, and its effectiveness is verified by simulations and experiments.

基于预设性能的机械臂自适应固定时间跟踪控制

李小飞1,2,3,王进1,2,3,张海运4,陆国栋1,2,3,陈益飞5,吴加春6,张驰6
1浙江大学流体动力基础件与机电系统全国重点实验室,中国杭州市,310027
2浙江省全省工业大数据与机器人智能系统重点实验室,中国杭州市,310058
3余姚市机器人研究中心,中国宁波市,315400
4宁波工程学院机器人学院,中国宁波市,315211
5智昌科技集团股份有限公司,中国宁波市,315400
6杭州海康机器人技术有限公司,中国杭州市,311507
摘要:机械臂常因动力学不确定性导致定位精度不足,现有大部分控制算法难以兼顾快速响应和高跟踪精度,并且依赖复杂的动力学模型计算,限制了核心算法的部署应用。本文提出面向机械臂动力学不确定性的实时跟踪控制方法,其能够平衡整体控制性能、计算复杂度与参数设置,适合直接部署在计算资源有限的嵌入式硬件上,无需进行复杂的动力学计算或学习逼近。首先设计了无模型的自适应延时估计器,用于估计并补偿机械臂的广义不确定动力学,其增益矩阵直接由跟踪误差的滑模变量幅值进行更新,以实现优异的整体性能。其次设计了具有预设性能的自适应固定时间非奇异终端滑模控制器,在预先设定的固定时间内镇定机械臂跟踪误差。该控制器参数通过解析推导的表达式确定了固定收敛时间的上界,实际整定时间都能自动得到保证,不受初始条件影响。同时瞬态响应速度和稳态跟踪精度由预设性能约束,从而提升机械臂在实时作业任务中的加工质量和效率。此外,进一步设计了跟踪控制器增益的自适应更新律,保证闭环控制系统的固定时间稳定性,同时消除动力学不确定性或其估计误差上确界的先验知识。该机械臂跟踪控制方法因参数整定便捷、计算负担小而易于实现,其有效性已通过仿真和实验验证。

关键词:自适应延时估计;自适应固定时间控制;动力学不确定性;预设性能;机械臂;跟踪控制

Darkslateblue:Affiliate; Royal Blue:Author; Turquoise:Article

Reference

[1]Ali M, Mirinejad H, 2024. Robust tracking control of flexible manipulators using hybrid backstepping/nonlinear reduced-order active disturbance rejection control. ISA Trans, 149:229-236.

[2]Baek J, Cho S, Han S, 2018. Practical time-delay control with adaptive gains for trajectory tracking of robot manipulators. IEEE Trans Ind Electron, 65(7):5682-5692.

[3]Chaudhary KS, Kumar N, 2023. Fractional order fast terminal sliding mode control scheme for tracking control of robot manipulators. ISA Trans, 142:57-69.

[4]Feng Y, Yu XH, Man ZH, 2002. Non-singular terminal sliding mode control of rigid manipulators. Automatica, 38(12):2159-2167.

[5]Glida HE, Chelihi A, Abdou L, et al., 2023. Trajectory tracking control of a coaxial rotor drone: time-delay estimation-based optimal model-free fuzzy logic approach. ISA Trans, 137:236-247.

[6]He W, Yan ZC, Sun CY, et al., 2017. Adaptive neural network control of a flapping wing micro aerial vehicle with disturbance observer. IEEE Trans Cybern, 47(10):3452-3465.

[7]Hu YS, Yan HC, Zhang H, et al., 2023. Robust adaptive fixed-time sliding-mode control for uncertain robotic systems with input saturation. IEEE Trans Cybern, 53(4):2636-2646.

[8]Huang YJ, Ke JH, Zhang XM, et al., 2023. Dynamic parameter identification of serial robots using a hybrid approach. IEEE Trans Rob, 39(2):1607-1621.

[9]Jin ML, Lee J, Chang PH, et al., 2009. Practical nonsingular terminal sliding-mode control of robot manipulators for high-accuracy tracking control. IEEE Trans Ind Electron, 56(9):3593-3601.

[10]Jin ML, Lee J, Ahn KK, 2015. Continuous nonsingular terminal sliding-mode control of shape memory alloy actuators using time delay estimation. IEEE/ASME Trans Mechatron, 20(2):899-909.

[11]Li G, Yu JP, Chen XK, 2023. Adaptive fuzzy neural network command filtered impedance control of constrained robotic manipulators with disturbance observer. IEEE Trans Neur Netw Learn Syst, 34(8):5171-5180.

[12]Li YM, Tong SC, Liu L, et al., 2017. Adaptive output-feedback control design with prescribed performance for switched nonlinear systems. Automatica, 80:225-231.

[13]Liu Y, Li HY, Lu RQ, et al., 2022. An overview of finite/fixed-time control and its application in engineering systems. IEEE/CAA J Autom Sin, 9(12):2106-2120.

[14]Ren Y, Sun YB, Liu L, 2024. Fuzzy disturbance observers-based adaptive fault-tolerant control for an uncertain constrained automatic flexible robotic manipulator. IEEE Trans Fuzzy Syst, 32(3):1144-1158.

[15]Saeedi M, Zarei J, Saif M, et al., 2025. Resilient event-triggered terminal sliding mode control design for a robot manipulator. IEEE Trans Autom Sci Eng, 22:570-581.

[16]Saied H, Chemori A, Bouri M, et al., 2023. Feedforward super-twisting sliding mode control for robotic manipulators: application to PKMs. IEEE Trans Rob, 39(4):3167-3184.

[17]Sariyildiz E, Oboe R, Ohnishi K, 2020. Disturbance observer-based robust control and its applications: 35th anniversary overview. IEEE Trans Ind Electron, 67(3):2042-2053.

[18]Soltanpour MR, Zaare S, 2024. Task space control of the robot manipulators with adaptive fuzzy global fast terminal sliding mode control in presence of dynamic and kinematic uncertainties. Int J Adapt Contr Signal Process, 38(1):121-145.

[19]Song TZ, Fang LJ, Zhang Y, et al., 2024. Recursive terminal sliding mode based control of robot manipulators with a novel sliding mode disturbance observer. Nonl Dynam, 112(2):1105-1121.

[20]Spong M, Vidyasagar M, 1987. Robust linear compensator design for nonlinear robotic control. IEEE J Rob Autom, 3(4):345-351.

[21]Sun YM, Wang F, Liu Z, et al., 2022. Fixed-time fuzzy control for a class of nonlinear systems. IEEE Trans Cybern, 52(5):3880-3887.

[22]Tong YC, Liu JG, Zhou H, et al., 2024. Adaptive tracking control of robotic manipulators with unknown kinematics and uncertain dynamics. IEEE Trans Autom Sci Eng, 21(4):5252-5269.

[23]Van M, Ge SS, Ren HL, 2017. Finite time fault tolerant control for robot manipulators using time delay estimation and continuous nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control. IEEE Trans Cybern, 47(7):1681-1693.

[24]Van M, Mavrovouniotis M, Ge SS, 2019. An adaptive backstepping nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control for robust fault tolerant control of robot manipulators. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern Syst, 49(7):1448-1458.

[25]Vo AT, Truong TN, Kang HJ, et al., 2025. Prescribed performance model-free sliding mode control using time-delay estimation and adaptive technique applied to industrial robot arms. Inform Sci, 702:121911.

[26]Wang B, Shen YY, Li N, et al., 2023. An adaptive sliding mode fault-tolerant control of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle with actuator faults and model uncertainties. Int J Robust Nonl Contr, 33(17):10182-10198.

[27]Wang XY, Wang DZ, Du MT, et al., 2024. A two-layer trajectory tracking control scheme of manipulator based on ELM-SMC for autonomous robotic vehicle. IEEE Trans Autom Sci Eng, 21(3):2337-2348.

[28]Wang YY, Yan F, Chen JW, et al., 2019. A new adaptive time-delay control scheme for cable-driven manipulators. IEEE Trans Ind Inform, 15(6):3469-3481.

[29]Wen QW, Yang XH, Huang C, et al., 2023. Disturbance observer-based neural network integral sliding mode control for a constrained flexible joint robotic manipulator. Int J Contr Autom Syst, 21(4):1243-1257.

[30]Xu SY, Wu Z, 2024. Adaptive learning control of robot manipulators via incremental hybrid neural network. Neurocomputing, 568:127045.

[31]Yang Y, Xu HZ, Yao XM, 2024. Disturbance rejection event-triggered robust model predictive control for tracking of constrained uncertain robotic manipulators. IEEE Trans Cybern, 54(6):3540-3552.

[32]Yilmaz BM, Tatlicioglu E, Savran A, et al., 2022. Self-adjusting fuzzy logic based control of robot manipulators in task space. IEEE Trans Ind Electron, 69(2):1620-1629.

[33]Yu SH, Yu XH, Shirinzadeh B, et al., 2005. Continuous finite-time control for robotic manipulators with terminal sliding mode. Automatica, 41(11):1957-1964.

[34]Zhang S, Wu Y, He XY, et al., 2023. Neural network-based cooperative trajectory tracking control for a mobile dual flexible manipulator. IEEE Trans Neur Netw Learn Syst, 34(9):6545-6556.

[35]Zhang Y, Kong LH, Zhang S, et al., 2023. Improved sliding mode control for a robotic manipulator with input deadzone and deferred constraint. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern Syst, 53(12):7814-7826.

[36]Zhu YK, Qiao JZ, Guo L, 2019. Adaptive sliding mode disturbance observer-based composite control with prescribed performance of space manipulators for target capturing. IEEE Trans Ind Electron, 66(3):1973-1983.

Open peer comments: Debate/Discuss/Question/Opinion

<1>

Please provide your name, email address and a comment





Full Text:   <23>

Summary:  <49>

CLC number: TP242

On-line Access: 2026-10-13

Received: 2026-05-30

Revision Accepted: 2026-06-22

Crosschecked: 2026-10-13

Cited: 0

Clicked: 48

Citations:  Bibtex RefMan EndNote GB/T7714

 ORCID:

Xiaofei LI

0000-0001-6214-5721

Jin WANG

0000-0003-3106-021X

Haiyun ZHANG

0000-0002-2558-1564

Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou 310027, China
Tel: +86-571-87952783; E-mail: cjzhang@zju.edu.cn
Copyright © 2000 - 2026 Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE