LAUSR

Abstract The problem of finite-time trajectory tracking of robot manipulators with uncertain dynamics, external bounded disturbances, and bounded torque inputs is addressed in this paper. In order to achieve finite-time convergence a nonlinear control algorithm based on a second-order sliding mode controller in combination with nonsingular terminal sliding mode is proposed. The proposed controller also exploits the properties of the hyperbolic tangent function. As a result, the control algorithm generates a continuous bounded signal. In addition, the controller structure is simple since it does not require the knowledge of the robot dynamic model. Experimental results are provided to show the performance of the proposed control algorithm.