Comparison of Classical and Modern Control Applied to an Excavator-Arm
Abstract
The excavation of foundations, general earthworks and earth removal tasksare activities which involve the machine operator in a series of repetitive operations.Automation is likely to provide a number of benefits such as improving efficiency,quality and safety. However, a persistent stumbling block for system developers isthe achievement of fast smooth movement of the excavator arm under automaticcontrol. In this regard, the paper develops two very different design methods, amodel-based, full state feedback approach and a classical frequency domaintechnique based on the Nichols chart. The advantages and limitations of thesecontrasting approaches are identified in terms of both performance and design effort.
