Towards a Model-Based Motion Control Design for a 7-axis Robotic Arm LWA4D by Schunk

This thesis presents an overview and realization of several steps towards system integration and the control design for the robot arm LWA4D by Schunk using MATLAB/Simulink blocks through the adopted hardware and software from dSpace company. The dynamical equations for the manipulator using three and seven degrees-of-freedom will be derived and implemented using MATLAB/Simulink blocks. Moreover, the implementation of model-based controllers based on the system dynamics is implemented and tested both in ideal conditions and under the delays related to CAN communication protocol. In addition, in order to visualize the motion of the manipulator under the model-based controllers, SimMechanics is used alongside plots showing the end-effector position and the generated torques. Information regarding the first steps on how the hardware and software should be set up in order to establish communication between the manipulator and the Simulink blocks is provided as well. Finally, the problems that appeared during the implementation steps and the results obtained are discussed in the last section