Fuzzy controller optimized by the African vultures algorithm for trajectory tracking of a two-link gripping mechanism

This paper presents the proportional-derivative fuzzy controller for trajectory tracking of the gripping mechanism with two degrees of freedom. Aiming to achieve movement of the gripping mechanism without sudden starting and stopping, a polynomial velocity profile is utilized. The African vultures optimization, as one of the latest metaheuristic algorithms, is used to obtain the optimal input/output scaling gains of the proposed fuzzy controller according to the selected fitness function. The results obtained by this algorithm are compared with the other three new and popular metaheuristic algorithms: the whale optimization, the ant lion optimization and the sine cosine algorithm. Moreover, a simulation study was done for the defined initial position and for the scenario where there is a certain deviation because the gripping mechanism is not at its original initial position. Finally, the robustness of the controller is tested for the case when the masses of the segments increase three times. The results revealed that the suggested controller was capable of dealing with nonlinearities of the gripping mechanism, initial position and parameter changes. The movement of the gripping mechanism is smooth and follows the defined trajectory.