Minimum Energy Control of Redundant Systems Using Evolutionary Bi-Level Optimization
Redundant manipulators are mechanical systems with more degrees of freedom than required for their task. The paper considers the problem of energy minimization, given a required task, for such systems. The problem is formulated as a constrained optimal control with additional inequality constraints. A dynamic projection enables transforming the problem into an equivalent unconstrained, reduced order one. The solution scheme presented here combines the problems of path planning and tracking control. It includes decomposition of the problem into a bi-level structure. The parametric, higher-level problem is solved using a genetic algorithm and the lower level one is solved using optimal control. Comparison with full optimal control solutions shows the superiority of the combined evolutionary algorithm in terms of computational feasibility and overall energy savings.