A New Fast NMPC Scheme for Parallel Kinematic Manipulators: Design and Real-Time Experiments

This paper adresses the design of a new extension of fast nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) for parallel manipulators. The developed controller is based on a parameterized NMPC, a fast gradient solver and a proportional derived controller (PD). The main motivation behind the proposed approach is to improve the tracking performance of fast parallel manipulators and reduce the computation time per control iteration. This control scheme is faster, in terms of computing time, than the classical NMPC and ensures the robustness of the resulting closed-loop system. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller, real-time experiments are performed on a 4-DOF parallel kinematic manipulator called VELOCE.