Performance analysis between a hybrid force/position and conventional controllers for a wrist exoskeleton

This study analyses the performances of various path controlling strategies for a 3-degrees of freedom wrist exoskeleton, by comparing key indicators, such as rise time, steady-state error, and implementation difficulty. A model was built to describe both system’s kinematics and dynamics, as well as 3 different controllers (PID, PD+, and a hybrid force/position controller) that were designed to allow each joint to perform smooth motions within anatomic ranges. The corresponding simulation was run and assessed via Matlab (version 2020a). In addition to the performance comparison, remarkable characteristics could be identified among controllers. PD+ showed higher response speed than the other controllers (about 4 times), and PID was reinforced as the technique with the easiest implementation due to the smallest matrices. The study also allowed to greater potential of the hybrid controller to interact with its environment, i.e., the robotic device.