Improved model‐based control of a six‐degree‐of‐freedom Stewart platform driven by permanent magnet synchronous motors

Purpose – The precise control and dynamic analysis of the electrical Stewart platform have not been so well treated in the literature. This paper aims to design a novel model‐based controller to improve the tracing performance of the electrical Stewart platform. Moreover, the simulations under uncertain environments are used to verify the robustness of the controller. Design/methodology/approach – In the electrical Stewart platform, there exist two special movements of the motor systems: motor systems' movement with the actuators and meanwhile the rotors and snails' rotation around their axis. The Kane equation is used to compute the driven torque of the movements of motor systems, actuators and movable platform. The improved dynamic models of the electrical Stewart platform which consider the motor systems and actuators' influences are used to design the novel controller. The PID controller and the simple model‐based controller are also developed to compare with the novel one. Moreover, the robustness of the controller is verified by the platform friction and the parameters uncertainty. Findings – Simulation results show that the novel model‐based controller can gain a better tracing performance than the PID controller and even the simple model‐based controller. Under the environments of the platform with friction and 5% parameters variety, the tracing performance of the novel controller is also satisfactory, which verifies the robustness of the controller. Most importantly, the novel model‐based controller can be used in a higher precision control demand and a more complicated environment. Originality/value – The main contribution of this paper is to derive a novel model‐based controller considering the motor systems' influence, which enhances the robustness of the controller. To the authors' best knowledge, such a framework for the improved model based controller has not been well treated in the past literature. The conventional PID controller and a simple model‐based controller are also built to verify the advantages of the improved model‐based controller.