SDRE controller considering Multi Observer applied to nonlinear IPMC model

Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) is an electroactive polymer (EAP) and a promising candidate actuator for various potential applications mainly due to its flexible, low voltage/power requirements, small and compact design, and lack of moving parts. Although widely used in industry, this material requires accurate numerical models and knowledge of optimal control methods. This paper presents State-Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) approach as one of rapidly emerging methodologies for designing nonlinear controllers. Additionally, the present paper describes a novel method of Multi HGO Observer design. In the proposed design, the calculated position of the IPMC strip accurately tracks the target position, which is illustrated by the experiments. Numerical results and comparison with experimental data are presented and the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is verified in experiments.