2018 Global Smart Industry Conference (GloSIC)
Fuzzy Logic Control Design for 2-Link Robot
Manipulator in MATLAB/Simulink via Robotics
Toolbox
Manafaddin Namazov
Head of Process Automation Engineering Department
Baku Higher Oil School
Baku, Azerbaijan
Manafaddin.Namazov@socar.az
Abstract—In this paper, it is aimed to achieve fuzzy logic
control of a simple 2-link robot manipulator via Robotics and
Fuzzy Logic Toolboxes of MATLAB©. The blocks from these
toolboxes were blended in the Simulink© environment in order
to obtain the simulations. The robot block available in the
Robotics Toolbox was used to create the model by modifying
the block parameters. Next, a PD-controller was designed and
optimized, which results, in turn, acted as a guide for
generating the fuzzy rule-base of the fuzzy controller. The
fuzzy controller was then designed and implemented into the
system using the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox. Finally, the fuzzy
control system that has a satisfactory reference tracking
performance was simulated for various inputs.
Keywords—Fuzzy control, Robotics Toolbox, 2-link robot
manipulator
I. INTRODUCTİON
These days, robot manipulators are widely used in
manufacturing, and tuning of the controllers is an actual
problem in the control of these systems. Classical controller
schemes require tuning for each reference and disturbance
signals. Using the advantageous features of fuzzy controller
scheme, control of plants with a wider range of reference and
disturbance signals can be handled [12,17].
There are several approaches for robot manipulator
control that are well defined in literature [2,3,6,7]. However,
one of these approaches, namely, computed-torque control,
provides a quite satisfactory performance particularly when
the robot arm parameters are known fairly accurately [7].
This method was first introduced in Paul‘s 1972 report [1],
and the name was first used in Markiewicz and Bejczy
[2,3,15].
A fundamental problem in robot control is to accomplish
the task of tracking a desired trajectory with adequate
precision. In classical robot manipulator control, tuning of
the controllers are achieved by ranging the controlled
variables. However, in real applications, control systems are
subject to external effects such as noise and disturbance. In
order to suppress the undesired effects of these inputs, the
fuzzy control algorithm, which allows for control in a wider
interval of the controlled variables, is implemented.
In contrast with the conventional methods, fuzzy control
schemes based on the Fuzzy Set Theory, proposed by Zadeh
[8], provides a more effective method for the analysis and
control of relatively complex, mathematically difficult to
978-1-5386-7386-7/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
model, nonlinear, time-varying systems. One of the most
significant strengths of fuzzy control is the ability to be
successfully applied to complex systems such as Mamdani‘s
steam engine and boiler combination [9], Kickert‘s warm
water plant [10] and Ostergaard‘s heat exchanger system
[11] using experience, or control engineering knowledge
without a mathematical model of the plant [12,13].
Modeling the robot manipulator, design and analysis of
the fuzzy control algorithm and acquisition of the simulation
results using the strong computational tools listed above are
of primary interest to this research. The main advantage of
using such computational tools is the ability to address the
issue of synthesis and analysis of such complex systems in a
very easy and compact manner. In this paper, we first
introduce the model of the robot manipulator. Then, a PD-
controller is implemented and optimized for the desired
operation regime. Next, the design procedure of a fuzzy
controller based on optimized PD parameters, which
performs fuzzy tuning is described. This paper focuses on the
design of fuzzy logic control of a simple 2-link robot
manipulator via simultaneous application of Simulink,
Robotics Toolbox and Fuzzy Logic Toolbox of MATLAB.
II. MODEL OF THE ROBOT MANİPULATOR
The robot manipulator is modeled so as to obtain a
solution to the inverse dynamics problem in which the
torques applied by the actuators is computed in order to
follow a prescribed trajectory. In other words, the goal of this
model is to determine the torque regimes required to achieve
given position, velocity and acceleration objectives for each
link of the robot manipulator. Manipulator dynamics deals
with the equations of motion in order to obtain such a
solution [4]. In a general sense, this problem is formulated as
follows [5]:
τ (t ) = D(q (t ))q(t ) + h(q (t ), q (t )) + c(q (t )), (1)
where τ(t) is the torque vector, q is the vector of generalized
coordinates, D is the inertial matrix, h is the Coriolis and
centrifugal terms, and c is the gravitational term. The 2-link
robot manipulator of interest is illustrated in Fig. 1 [5].
 2018 Global Smart Industry Conference (GloSIC)
TABLE I. COLUMN ASSİGNMENTS FOR THE ‗DYN‘ MATRİX OF THE
TOOLBOX [4]

Symbol Description Actual values

αi Link twist angle [rad] α1 = α2 = 0
Ai Link length A1 = A2 = 1
θi Link rotation angle [rad] θ1 = θ2 = 0
Di Link offset distance D1 = D 2 = 0
σi Optional joint type; 0 for σ1 = σ2 = 0
revolute, non-zero for
prismatic
Fig. 1. 2-link robot manipulator used as the plant of the fuzzy control m Link mass m1 = m2 = 1
system [6]
III. FUZZY CONTROL DESİGN OF THE ROBOT MANİPULATOR
Equations of motion for the robot manipulator can be
calculated as follows [5]: Computed-torque control provides easy-to-understand
schemes for robot manipulator control. In general, these
schemes work well especially when the arm parameters are
1 2 4 2 2 1 2 1 2  known fairly precisely [7]. In this section, a fuzzy controller
 τ1   3 m1l + 3 m2 l + m2 C2 l 3 m2 l + 2 m2 l C2   θ1  will be designed based on computed-torque control scheme
τ   1 1 1   θ  +
 2  m2 l 2 + m2 l 2 C2 m2 l 2  2  to improve the reference tracking performance of the 2-link
 3 2 3  robot manipulator discussed above. The design will be
 1 2 2 2   
carried out in Simulink environment and will involve blocks
 − m S
2 2 l θ 2 − m S
2 2 l θ θ
1 2
+ 2 + from the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox, as well.
1 2 2
 m2 S2 l θ1 
 2  The first step to fuzzy control design is achieved by
1 1  utilizing a PD controller scheme to find the optimized
m glC
2 1 1 2 2 + m glC 12 + m 2 glC1 
+  controller gains. The optimization procedure was carried out
1
 m2 glC12  using the Signal Constraint block of Response Optimization
 2  Toolbox of MATLAB instead of the well-known
conventional methods such as Ziegler-Nichols and hand
An effective computational tool for the simulation and tuning due to their shortcomings mentioned in [12,20].
analysis of robotic control systems is the Robotics Toolbox Signal constraint block allows for graphically constraining
for MATLAB, which is introduced by Corke [4]. Among the response signal, and optimization of the model
various methods for deriving the dynamic equations of parameters that satisfy the performance requirements,
motion [refs], the Robotics Toolbox utilizes the Newton- namely, rise time, settling time, overshoot, and steady-state
Euler formulation due to its computational efficiency [18]. error [16,21,22]. Optimized parameters for our design that
The overall robotic system was modeled in satisfy given conditions were computed after six iterations as
MATLAB/Simulink via blending the blocks from both shown in Figure 2.
Simulink and Robotics Toolbox. The main components of
the model include the robot object, inverse dynamics (rne)
and the reference trajectory (jtraj) blocks. Important features
of these blocks are discussed below.
The first block is called jtraj, which provides a reference
trajectory to be followed by the robot manipulator. The
inverse dynamics (rne) block computes the torques required
to accomplish the task of following the assigned trajectory by
using recursive Newton-Euler formulation. Finally, the 2-
link robot manipulator is modeled based on
Denavit&Hartenberg (DH) Representation in the Robotics
Toolbox of MATLAB. Input to this block consists of the
torques applied by the actuators, and it outputs the
generalized coordinates and their derivatives for each Fig. 2. Optimization procedure of the PD parameters in Signal Constraint
link.Kinematics and dynamics of the manipulator are Block.
compactly represented in a single matrix (dyn) [4], which in
turn, provides the Simulink robot object with the necessary A fuzzy controller is then implemented on each robot arm,
parameters such as DH parameters and inertial parameters, which utilizes the position and velocity error signals as its
etc. A complete list of parameters that are passed to the robot inputs, and outputs a control signal to adjust the Kp and Kd
object is given in Table 1. parameters, accordingly. Optimal values of these parameters
are given in Table 2.
 2018 Global Smart Industry Conference (GloSIC)
TABLE II. OPTİMAL VALUES FOR KP AND KD PARAMETERS FOR EACH Ranges and locations of the membership functions are
LİNK‘S CONTROLLER
determined according to the error signal values obtained
Kpopt Kdopt from the previous design (with a PD controller). The rule-
Controller 1 1x10-4 70.4696 base of the FIS is then constructed after careful examination
of the error signals. Fuzzy rules employed in the FIS are
Controller 2 8.9944 4.2533 given in Table 3.
The membership functions of inputs/outputs of the Fuzzy
inference system (FIS) are shown in Figure 3 [14]. TABLE III. FUZZY RULES OF THE FIS
e
NB NS ZE PS PB
de

NB NB NB NB NS ZE
NS NB NB NS ZE PS
ZE NB NS ZE PS PB
PS NS ZE PS PB PB
PB ZE PS PB PB PB

NB Negative BIG
NS Negative SMALL
ZE ZERO
PS Positive SMALL
a)
PB Positive BIG

Optimal Kp and Kd parameters are tuned according to

the following formulas [19]:

K p K popt + ∆K p
=
(3)
K d K dopt + ∆K d
=

In Table 3, fuzzy values of the output variable are shown

according to the values of error and change of error. As the
fuzzy controller is designed, next step will be simulating the
overall system to check its performance.

IV. SİMULATİON AND RESULTS

The fuzzy control system was designed and simulated in
b) MATLAB Simulink in order to evaluate the reference
tracking performance of the system. For this purpose,
Robotics and Fuzzy Logic Toolbox blocks were
implemented on the Simulink model. The functional block
diagram of the overall system is illustrated in Figure 4 and 5.
3D simulation of the manipulator is obtained using the
plot block. Such a simulation is given in Fig. 6.

c)
Fig. 3. Membership functions of the input and output signals: (a) error of
q1, (b) change of error of q1, (c) Fuzzy value of Kp1. Fig. 4. Simulation of the robot manipulator.
 2018 Global Smart Industry Conference (GloSIC)

e_q1
Kpd1
e_q2
de_q1
de_q2
Kpd2

Fuzzy PD Controller

2-link robot 2-link robot q

q q 2-link robot
qd qd tau tau qd
qdd qdd
qdd Animation of Robot
Manipulator
Inverse Dynamics 0
Trajectory
Robot Object
Generator
Clock
simout

To Workspace

Fig. 5. Simulink model of the 2-link robot manipulator system with fuzzy control

Fig. 6. Simulink model of the subsystem Fuzzy PD Controller

Output signals are then subtracted from the reference
inputs, and the calculated error signals are sent to two
separate fuzzy controllers, in which the control signals are
generated for the two links of the manipulator. Control
signals are finally fed back to the RNE block as acceleration
inputs that will regulate the torques accordingly.
Some simulation results are provided below to
understand the dynamic behavior of the system. In these
simulations, input values of angular position are pi/4 for both
links.
As seen from the output curves on Fig 7, trajectory
tracking performance of the fuzzy control system is
satisfactory in terms of time-domain characteristics such as
overshoot, rise time, settling time, and steady-state error,
even though they are not readily observed because of the
structure of the input signal. As a result, the fuzzy approach
considered in this paper was found to be relatively effective
compared to the PD-controller scheme.
V. CONCLUSİON
Dynamic model of a 2-link robot manipulator is created
and a fuzzy logic controller is designed and implemented in
order to adjust the PD-controller parameters for improved
reference-tracking performance. Design procedures for all
components of the overall system are explained in detail. The
system is then simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and the
output curves are presented to emphasize the results. The
fuzzy logic controller is found to be efficient in terms of
adjusting Kp and Kd parameters, which in turn decreased the
tracking error, and improved the reference tracking
performance of the robot manipulator. Future work might be
the design of a model-based (Takagi-Sugeno) fuzzy
controller scheme which includes several uncertainties.
 2018 Global Smart Industry Conference (GloSIC)
Fig. 7. (a) Angular position (q1) and velocity (qd1) of link-1 versus time, (b) Angular position (q2) and velocity (qd2) of link-2 versus time
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