Tracking control of a leg rehabilitation machine driven by pneumatic artificial muscles using composite fuzzy theory

It is difficult to achieve excellent tracking performance for a two-joint leg rehabilitation machine driven by pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) because the system has a coupling effect, highly nonlinear and time-varying behavior associated with gas compression, and the nonlinear elasticity of bladder containers. This paper therefore proposes a T-S fuzzy theory with supervisory control in order to overcome the above problems. The T-S fuzzy theory decomposes the model of a nonlinear system into a set of linear subsystems. In this manner, the controller in the T-S fuzzy model is able to use simple linear control techniques to provide a systematic framework for the design of a state feedback controller. Then the LMI Toolbox of MATLAB can be employed to solve linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) in order to determine controller gains based on the Lyapunov direct method. Moreover, the supervisory control can overcome the coupling effect for a leg rehabilitation machine. Experimental results show that the proposed controller can achieve excellent tracking performance, and guarantee robustness to system parameter uncertainties.