Conceptual design of controllers for automated modular construction machines

Abstract

Without a methodology, the practice of control system design for automated modular construction machines mainly depends on experience and trial-and-error. Implementation of controllers requires planning at the conceptual design phase. Axiomatic design (AD) has been introduced in developing control solutions. This paper formalizes the conceptual design methodology in building a controller with the use of quality function deployment (QFD) as a design and an analysis tool. The controller design approach using QFD has been applied to the automated steel wall framing machine and to a 2-degree-of-freedom (DOF) robotic arm, which can be readily extended to n-DOF robotic manipulators. The analysis and decoupling techniques for controller design presented in this paper differ from those used in traditional AD. QFD for controller design provides continuous transfer functions to represent relationships and mathematical decoupling that is easily implemented in software.