RESEARCH AREAS AND CURRENT PROJECTS
Related to Computational Intelligence:
EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHMS IN THE OPTIMAL MECHATRONIC DESIGN
The complexity of the design of mechatronic systems has led to the use of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) to find unconventional design solutions. The tradeoff between the exploration and the explotaition in the EAs is a crutial part in the searching of the solution in the design space. The mechatronic systems that have been designed in this rearch area are: parallel robots, the mechanism of gait for biped robots, the input mechanism of continuously variable transmissions, the control gains of a four bar mechanism.
OPTIMUM CONTROL TUNING BASED ON A DYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION APPROACH FOR MECHATRONIC SYSTEMS
Nowadays, mechatronic systems must fulfill different control objectives. When those objectives are in conflict and/or the system is in an uncertain environment, the tuning process is a challenging task. So, such a process requires to be tackled by the paradigms of computational intelligence and optimization.
Related to Intelligent control
ON LINE EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM IN THE ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF MECHATRONIC SYSTEMS
The nonlinear changes in the kinematic and dynamic parameters of electromechanical systems can deteriorate the control system performance. Instead of using adaptive control scheme, we provide other alternative to efficiently control electromechanical systems under parametric uncertainties. Nevertheless, more analysis must be done in order to carry out the laboratory testing.
Related to Design methodology
INTEGRATED STRUCTURE-CONTROL DESIGN
Mechatronic systems requiere a new design philosophy to improve their performance. The synergetic tradeoff between the structure and control design objectives requiere a simultaneous design and an exhaustive design analysis to provide a superior performance. This design philosophy can be applied to reduce the energy consumption, to enhance the quality of the assigned task, among others.
Related to practical application
SEQUENTIAL STRUCTURE-CONTROL DESIGN FOR MECHATRONIC SYSTEMS
In the sequential structure-control design we firstly design the mechanical structure of the mechatronic system using standard software for the numerical simulation, computer aided design, finite element analysis, computer aided manufacturing, among others. Once the mechatronic system is done, the control system is designed. Some works in this research area are: Mobile manipulator, Teleoperation system, Kinesthetic teleoperation system, Bounded control and Event trigger control.
OPEN CONTROL ARCHITECTURE FOR MECHATRONIC SYSTEMS
The open control architecture (OCA) for mechatronic systems is a low cost control architecture with the flexibility, reconfigurability and versatility for carrying out a broad variety of task in a simple manner. This architecture can provide the theoretical and practical teaching for some courses in engineering and postgraduate studies. In addition, this architecture can be useful in research for a fast experimental implementation of proposal control laws. The OCA is being used in a SCARA robot, mobile manipulator, RRR serial robot.