Inertia-free appointed-time prescribed performance tracking control for space manipulator

This paper investigates the tracking control problem for a 6-dof rigid space manipulator subject to inaccurate dynamic model, capable of guaranteeing the prescribed performance bounds as well as the appointed-time stability on the system states. With the appointed-time reachable performance function, the system tracking error converges to stability domains before the appointed time which is independent of the system initial conditions and can be off-line preassigned in accordance with specific missions. The control design process is simplified by utilizing an appropriately defined error transformation mapping. The issue of inaccurate dynamic model is overcome by the proposed inertia-free controller and the rigorous stability analysis is achieved with the Lyapunov theory. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.