Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

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Engineering Science and Technology, an International

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Full Length Article

A robust adaptive-fuzzy-proportional-derivative controller for a

rehabilitation lower limb exoskeleton
Norazam Aliman a, Rizauddin Ramli b,c,⇑, Sallehuddin Mohamed Haris b, Mohammad Soleimani Amiri b,
Mien Van d
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politeknik Sultan Azlan Shah, Behrang Stesen, 35950 Behrang, Perak, Malaysia
b
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
c
Center for Automotive Research(CAR), Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
d
School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Queen’s University Belfast, BT9 5BN Belfast, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Achieving high performance controller for multi-joints actuators on rehabilitation lower limb exoskele-
Received 27 August 2021 ton (RLLE) is difficult due to its non-linear characteristics. The controller performance with less tracking
Revised 19 December 2021 error is a key challenge in their controller. Therefore, this paper presents a new particle swarm optimiza-
Accepted 14 January 2022
tion based initialization of model reference adaptive for fuzzy logic proportional derivative controller
Available online 11 February 2022
(Adaptive-FLC-PD), used in RLLE for passive mode rehabilitation exercise. The RLLE modelling, which
integrates a lower-limb exoskeleton coupled with a direct current motor as joint actuator and a patient
Keywords:
leg model, was simulated in MATLAB. The lower-limb exoskeleton motion is realised via a trajectory
Exoskeleton
Trajectory tracking
tracking method that imitates a therapist-administered manual activity during passively rehabilitation
Fuzzy logic controller exercise. An Adaptive-FLC-PD was designed to control the direct current motor and drive the hip and
Adaptive fuzzy proportional derivative the knee of the lower-limb exoskeleton. The stability analysis of Adaptive-FLC-PD has been shown by
the applied Lyapunov function. The performance of the Adaptive-FLC-PD was compared with the fuzzy
logic controller (FLC) and FLC-proportional derivative (FLC-PD) algorithms. The numerical analysis ascer-
tained the performance of the Adaptive-FLC-PD in designing, tuning and simulating control system of
RLLE.
Ó 2022 Karabuk University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction mined gait trajectory algorithms. This form of training is realised

Recently, rehabilitation robotics have become indispensable
towards assisting the growing number of patients suffering from
neurological problems, such as spinal cord injuries, stroke, or foot
drop. Robotics approaches, such as rehabilitation lower limb
exoskeleton (RLLE), has been used to train patients to gain gait con-
sistency. This helps to reduce the heavy burden on therapists in
clinics and hospitals. RLLE is an equipment that aids patients with
neurological problems to restore their motion function or improve
their gait pattern [1,2].
Various passive training strategies have been introduced for
neurological patients at the acute stage, to passively perform
repetitive training tasks with the affected lower limbs via predeter-
⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail address: rizauddin@ukm.edu.my (R. Ramli).
Peer review under responsibility of Karabuk University.
via a trajectory tracking method that imitates a therapist-
administered manual activity; thus, contributing to improved
muscle function and avoiding motor function degradation. These
conditions force RLLE to deal with more complex physical human
interaction, disturbances, and time-varying dynamics [3]. There-
fore, it is challenging to develop an exoskeleton model combined
with a controller to achieve consistently high dynamic tracking
performance in rehabilitation training.
Several dynamic models of lower limb exoskeleton have been
developed. The basic forms a predominantly represented by
Euler-Lagrangian equations, which are energy-based methods used
to determine lower limb exoskeleton dynamic equations [4,5]. A
dynamic model that integrates a motor and an exoskeleton has
been proposed in some studies [6,7]. A dynamic mathematical
lower limb exoskeleton model, which was adapted with human
limb variables such as mass, was proposed in [4,8,9]. These studies
show that it is not easy to mathematically model patient dynamics
combined with the exoskeleton as in the actual situation. This is
even more challenging to mathematically model the ground reac-

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jestch.2022.101097
2215-0986/Ó 2022 Karabuk University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

tion force, friction and disturbance when interacting with on a nonlinear system. Developing simpler controller structure
unknown environment. but higher tracking performance have attracted many attentions
To date, various strategies have been proposed to achieve high from researchers in both academia and industry. It can minimize
dynamic tracking performance consistently. Fuzzy logic control the complexity of the control system, takes less processing time
(FLC) is an intelligent control system that has been successfully and reduce the computational burden. In this paper, we presents
applied in many complex non-linear systems. Nevertheless, the a new PSO-based initialization of model reference adaptive for
performance of FLC with fixed scaling factors and fixed fuzzy rules FLC-PD used in RLLE for passive mode rehabilitation exercise,
is not optimal and can be improved and optimized further. which is a new approach compared to the previous FLC control
Chang et al. applied Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy on a Pneumatic Artifi- strategy.
cial Muscle to track the reference trajectory [10]. This actuator has An FLC-PD is developed to track the predetermined gait trajec-
a time-varying and highly non-linear behaviour due to the elastic- tory for the RLLE model. The RLLE model is derived based on the
ity of its bladder containers and gas compression. The study’s Lagrange dynamic equation. A Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO)
experimental results, with disturbance considered, verified the is employed to tune the gains of the FLC-PD parameter optimally.
excellent tracking performance of the algorithm. Next, a model reference adaptive control (MRAC) law is integrated
The effectiveness of hybrid controller has been widely investi- on the FLC-PD (Adaptive-FLC-PD) to improve the online tracking
gated in recent works. Sharma et al. demonstrates the comparison performance. Further, the Adaptive-FLC-PD controllers are com-
between proportional integral derivative (PID), FLC and FLC pro- paratively analysed with the FLC and FLC-PD via simulation.
portional integral derivative (FLC-PID) for a lower limb exoskeleton The paper is organised as follows: The RLLE model is given in
to assist physically impaired people [11]. The parameters for the brief in Section 2, and the RLLE mathematical model is explained
controllers are obtained by dragon fly algorithm. The results in Section 3. Section 4 shows the controller design, i.e., the FLC,
showed that FLC-PID controller provided excellent performance the Fuzzy-PD, and the Adaptive-FLC-PD controller. The results
compared to FLC and PID controller. Chhabra et. al. [12] has and the discussion is presented in Section 5. Concluding remarks
demonstrate that combination of FLC proportional integral (FLC- are shown in section 6.
PI) and FLC proportional derivative (FLC-PD) on two degree of free-
dom of robotic manipulator. The controller’s performance is
2. Rehabilitation lower limb exoskeleton modelling
enhanced by fractional calculus. The study found that the superior-
ity of this controller compared to PID controller.
The RLLE model was constructed by combining joint actuators,
The FLC-PD algorithm and the FLC-PID algorithm were com-
patient leg and exoskeleton model in parallel. The patient leg
pared in [13]. Both controllers were tested on a brushless direct
model was developed based on human body anthropometric
current motor to control speed in two conditions, namely varying
dimensions of the Hanavan model [20]. The dimensions are based
speed and load disturbance. The results showed that FLC-PD per-
on a weight of 73.5 kg and a height of 1755 m. Fig. 1 shows a lower
formed markedly better than FLC-PID. The hybrid of FLC, Sliding
limb patient couple with the exoskeleton structure. For a passive
Mode and Proportional-Derivative controller has been proposed
rehabilitation exercise, a patient that is suffering from lower limb
in [14] to control the human upper limb and exoskeleton. The con-
complete paralysis provides no force of muscle and tendon activity
troller was then designed to track the reference trajectory of shoul-
when wearing the exoskeleton structure [21,22].
der and elbow joints. The results proved that excellent tracking
The joints of the lower of the patient body consist of revolute
performance of the proposed controller compared to
joints on the hips, knees, and ankles. The exoskeleton structure
Proportional-Derivative controller.
consists of three segments, which is the left and right shanks, the
Another study proposed PID controller, with parameters tuned
left and right thighs, and the left and right foot. The structure
by FLC, was able to track the predefined trajectories at a low error
was designed with one degree of freedom at each joint of the
rate. Meanwhile, their application in a prosthetics hand were com-
hip, knee, and ankle, which only rotate in the sagittal plane. Thus,
pared in another work [15]. The results showed that FLC-PID had
the friction force is created on hip, knee and ankle joint of
great response performance. It reduced the overshoot and provided
exoskeleton. The exoskeleton waist was attached to the supporter
better transient response compared to the FLC and PID controllers.
to provide the up and down movements during walking motion.
Another study applied FLC-PID controller for trajectory tracking
tasks on three degree of freedom of robotic manipulator [16].
The study found that controller provided excellent performance
and strong robustness against external disturbance and different
input trajectories.
Recently, researchers have been focusing on adaptive control to
optimise the FLC performance to handle the effects of external
noise and disturbance. The PID parameters, with online tuning by
FLC to control the exoskeleton joints, were shown in [17]. The
result showed that the proposed controller produced great perfor-
mance despite the presence of uncertainties and disturbances. In
another approach, the effectiveness hybrid of adaptive and FLC-
PID control for non-linear systems with noise was shown in [18].
In this approach, a FLC, in which its parameters were updated
online via a gradient descent method, were used to approximate
the PID parameters. A neural-fuzzy adaptive controller based on
a radial basis function network was developed in [19]. The con-
troller was used to control the human arm movement of an
exoskeleton for rehabilitation purposes. The results proved the
excellent tracking performance of the proposed controller.
From the literature [10–19], there are many controller strate-
gies have been developed to increase the performance of the FLC Fig. 1. The lower limb exoskeleton and patient limb.

2
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

Besides, to decrease the power consumption and improve the com- respectively; and x_ di ; y_ di ; x_ i ; y_ i are the velocity of the linkage and
fort level of patient, a spring was used at the ankle as a passive velocity end point of linkage, respectively. The total kinetic and
joint. The other planes i.e. the frontal plane and the transverse potential energies are determined as follows,
plane of the hips, and the knee and ankle joints were fixed. The
1 _2 1 1
Ii hi þ mi di h_ i þ M i di h_ i
2 2 2 2
exoskeleton supporter was developed to support, maintain, and Eki ¼ ð5Þ
2 2 2
sustain the wearer’s load during walking motion.
Epi ¼ gcoshi ðmi di þ M i li Þ ð6Þ
3. RLLE mathematical modelling
where di is the centroid position. Therefore, the dynamic model of
The RLLE mathematical model as shown in Fig. 2, consist of each link of the patient and exoskeleton structure is determined
integrates an exoskeleton coupled with a direct current motor as as [23],
 
a joint actuator and a patient leg model.
si ¼ mi di 2 þ Mi li 2 þ Ii €hi þ qi h_ i þ ðli Mi þ di mi Þgsinhi ð7Þ
3.1. Patient and exoskeleton dynamic modelling
where q is joint frictional torque; € hi denote the acceleration of the
joint i; g denotes the gravitational torque. The sinhi is approximated
In the RLLE kinematic model, each link of the patient and
as hi . The si is represent the torque of patient leg joint and the tor-
exoskeleton was simplified as one degree-of-freedom linkage,
que required on the exoskeleton joint to move the patient. Thus, the
restricted in the sagittal plane. The model can be represented using
exoskeleton joint torque, srlle is defined as a parallel combination of
the Lagrange dynamic equation as follows,
patient and exoskeleton torque, and consist of unknown external
Li ¼ Eki  Epi ð1Þ disturbances, sd . Therefore, srlle can be expressed as,

 srlle ¼ sip þ sie þ sd ð8Þ
d @Li @Li
si ¼  ð2Þ
where sip is the torque of the patient leg of joint i and sie is the tor-
dt @ h_i @hi
que of the exoskeleton of joint i. The physical features of the patient
where i is number of link; Li is the Lagrange function; Eki is the total and exoskeleton model are shown in Table 1.
kinetic energy; Epi is the total potential energy;si is the joint
torque;hi is the angle rotation of the joint; and h_ i is the angular 3.2. DC motor modelling
velocity. Thus, Epi and Eki are derived as,
Epi ¼ mi gydi þ M i gyi ð3Þ DC motors are required to drive each joint at the hips and knees
both of left and right legs. In this study, the high power-to-weight
1 _2 1  2  1   ratio of 24 V brush DC geared-motor is used. The motor delivers a
Ii hi þ m x_ di þ y_ di þ M x_ i þ y_ i
2 2 2
Eki ¼ ð4Þ rate of mechanical power at 50 W, which allows usage at a maxi-
2 2 i 2 i
mum continuous torque of 25 Nm and shorter duration maximum
where mi is the mass of the linkage; Mi is considered the summa- torques at approximately 45 Nm. The parameters of the DC motor
tion of physical effect of each lower limb such as inertia and mass; are shown in Table 2.
Ii is the rotational inertia;g is the acceleration gravity; xdi ; ydi ; xi ; yi Fig. 3 illustrates the schematic configuration of the DC motors
are the centroid position of the linkage and end point of linkage, in which the modelling can be determined via Kirchhoff’s Law as,
dia
V a ¼ Ra ia þ La þ ea ð9Þ
dt
where V a is the voltage input to the DC motor;Ra is the armature’s
resistance,ia is the armature current, x is the angular velocity,La is
the armature’s inductance and ea is the back electromotive force
constant.
The dynamic equation generated by DC motor shaft is
expressed as,

sr ðtÞ ¼ Jr €hr þ Br h_ r ð10Þ

where J r and Br are the inertia of the rotary shaft and friction con-
stant of DC motor,h_ r and €
hr denote the velocities, and acceleration
of the shaft of DC motor, respectively. The dynamic equation of tor-
que of the gear shaft is express as follows,

ssh ðtÞ ¼ Jsh €h þ Bsh h_ ð11Þ

Fig. 2. The modelling of RLLE.

Table 1
Features of RLLE and lower limb patient.

Model Segment Mass (kg) Length, l (m) Inertia, I (kg/m2) Center of mass, d (m)
Exoskeleton Thigh 2.746 0.450 0.0019 0.225
Shank 2.346 0.400 0.0015 0.200
Sole 1.6 – – –
Patient Thigh 7.335 0.384 0.001 0.206
Shank 3.607 0.384 0.003 0.207
Sole 1.075 – – –

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N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

Table 2
Parameter of DC motor.

Parameter Parameter/unit Value (hip joint) Value (knee joint)

1
Friction coefficient of rotary shaft of DC motor Bm ðNm=rads Þ 0:0027 0:0035
Moment Inertia of rotary shaft of DC motor Jm ðKgm2 Þ 0:0051 0:0071
Friction coefficient Bsh ðNm=rads1 Þ 0:0275 0:0259
Moment Inertia of rotary gear shaft Jsh ðKgm2 Þ 0:0453 0:0314
Voltage constant of rotary gear shaft K b ðV=rad:s1 Þ 0:185 0:185
Torque constant K t ðNm=AÞ 1:865 1:953
Armature’s inductance La ðHÞ 0:0196 0:0073
Armature’s resistance Ra ðXÞ 1:031 1:042
Gear ratio n 20 20

where Jsh is the inertia of the shaft of DC motor gear and Bsh is the where,
friction constant of the gear. The armature generated voltage can
h ¼ nK t ð19Þ
be represented as follows,
    
ea ðtÞ ¼ K b h_ r ð12Þ 2 2 2 2
a11 ¼ J sh þ n2 J r þ mip dip þ Mip lip þ Iip þ mie die þ Mie lie þ Iie La
where K b is voltage constant of the DC motor. The motor torque is ð20Þ
proportional to the current as follows,
 
sm ¼ K t ia ð13Þ a12 ¼ Bsh þ n2 Br þ qie La
    
2 2 2 2
þ Jsh þ n2 J r þ mip dip þ M ip lip þ Iip þ mie die þ M ie lie þ Iie Ra
where K t is the constant torque. The exoskeleton joint is the rotary
shaft, connected to DC motor which is connected to the exoskeleton ð21Þ
link. Therefore, the output torque of DC motor is written as follows,   
a13 ¼ lip M ip þ dip mip þ ðlie M ie þ die mie Þ La g
1  
K t ia ¼ sr þ ðssh þ srlle þ sd Þ ð14Þ þ n2 Br þ Bsh þ qie Ra þ n2 K t K b þ La sd ð22Þ
n
where n is a ratio of gear. Thus, the torque for the exoskeleton joint      
i, i.e. hip and knee can be expressed as, a14 ¼ lip Mip þ ðlie Mie Þ R g þ dip mip þ ðdie mie Þ Ra g þ Ra sd
a

smi ¼ Jr S2 hr ðsÞ ð23Þ

1 
2 2
 
2 2

Eq. (18) can be rewritten as,
þ Jsh þ mip dip þ Mip lip þ Iip þ mie die þ M ie lie þ Iie s2 hðsÞ
n  
v
1 
þ Br shr ðsÞ þ Bsh þ qie þ qip shðsÞ a11 h þa12 €h þ a13 h_ þ a14 h ¼ f h; h_ v a ð24Þ
n
1   
þ lip M ip þ dip mip þ ðlie M ie þ die mie Þ ghðsÞ þ sd ð15Þ The state equation is defines as,
n
x1 ¼ h
where the subscript of ie and ip denote for exoskeleton link and
patient limb, respectively. The ratio of the gear is correlated with
x2 ¼ h_
the DC motor shaft and gear shaft, which is as follows,
hr ðtÞ ¼ nhðt Þ ð16Þ x3 ¼ €h
Therefore, the DC motor modelling is represented as follows,
u ¼ a14 ð25Þ
ðLs þ RÞsmi ðsÞ
V a ðsÞ ¼ þ K b shðsÞ ð17Þ The state equation is obtained as,
Kt
2 3 2 32 3 2 3
Thus, the transfer function of the DC motor and the exoskeleton €x1 0 1 0 x1 0
6€ 7 6 76 7 6 0 7
link at each hip and knee joint is determined as follows, ¼
4 x2 5 4 0 0 1 54 x2 5 þ 4 5u
f ðx1 ;x2 ;x3 Þ
h h €x3 a14 =a11 a13 =a11 a12 =a11 x3 a11
G1 ¼ ¼ ð18Þ
V a S3 a11 þ S2 a12 þS1 a13 þ a14 ð26Þ

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the DC motor.

4
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al.
Fig. 4. Control system for RLLE modelling.
4. Controller design
Fig. 4 shows the block diagram of the RLLE control system, with
the feedback loop, for each exoskeleton joint. The reference trajec-
tory angle and error signal were different for each joint. That is, an
independent control system was designed for each joint. Each DC
motor on the hip and knee exoskeleton joints employs the voltage
as input signal, while the angle of rotation as output signal. The
load torque on DC motor modelling was accumulated from the
exoskeleton joint. Therefore, the RLLE modelling employs the volt-
age on input, while angle rotation employs on the output of knee
and hip exoskeleton joints. In this stage, we first design the struc-
ture of FLC with a zero-order Sugeno fuzzy model. Next, the FLC-PD
controller is developed. Then, an Adaptive-FLC-PD is developed,
where the MRAC law is adapted to tune the FLC-PD parameters
in real-time.
4.1. Fuzzy logic controller
The FLC is a popular intelligent controller dealing with compli-
cated non-linear systems and unknown precise dynamic models. In
this paper, the FLC structure was designed as shown in Fig. 5.
The FLC block diagram includes fuzzification, a fuzzy rule, a
fuzzy inference engine, and defuzzification. The FLC output signal
is a non-linear function of the error and change in error, expressed
as follows,
deðtÞ
V a1 ðtÞ ¼ f ðK a eðtÞ; K b Þ ð27Þ
dt
where the V a1 is a voltage output from FLC, function f is the input–
output mapped by FLC, whereas K a and K b are the input scaling fac-
tors for the FLC input, and eðtÞ is the error between the reference
trajectory and the actual angle of the joint; therefore, the linear
approximation is similar to the conventional proportional deriva-
tive controller, as shown below,
deðtÞ
V a1 ¼ K a eðt Þ þ K b ð28Þ
dt
where K a is the proportional gain and K b is the derivative gain of the
proportional derivative controller.
Scaling factors K a and K b were employed to normalise the sys-
tem variables to the universal fuzzy sets. To reduce the computa-
tional burden and less processing time, the triangular
membership function, as shown in Fig. 6, was adopted in the fuzzi-
5
Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097
fication process. This process convert the system variable error, e
and change of error, De into linguistic variables. The input variable,
e and De both ranged from 20° to 20°, while the output variable
ranged from 22V to 22V. Three membership functions denoted
by Negative (N), Zero (Z), and Positive (P) were used, and then
applied in the FLC system. The fuzzy rule was taken from the
3  3 fuzzy rule is shown in Fig. 7.
The FLC rules type T-S have an if-then rule. Each rule has a crisp
output as shown below,
Rule r : IF e is Ai AND De is Aj THEN V a1;r is ar xðtÞ þ br yðtÞ
þ cr ð29Þ
where r ¼ 0; 1; 2    i  1 is the number of rules, i ¼ 0; 1; 2    i  1,
and j ¼ 0; 1; 2    j  1. The linguistic variables assigned for the input
variables are denoted by fAg, while the output linguistic variables
are denoted by {V a }. Based on the FLC, inferencing was achieved
using the inference algorithm and based on the situation. In this
paper, the zero-order Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy inference system was
used; thus, a and b were set to zero. The a; b and c are system matri-
ces with appropriate dimensions. For simplicity, the membership
Pr  
i¼1 Pi¼1 Aji ej ¼ 1.
j
functions are assumed to be normalized, as
The weighted average, W r was applied to each rule based on firing
strength to find the overall output. For example, given the AND rule
of input e dan De, the firing strength is given by,
 
W r ¼ AndMethod A1 ; A2 ð30Þ
where A1 and A2 are the membership functions of input 1 and input
2, respectively. Finally, the output function is used to defuzify fuzzy
sets and to attain the desired control signals (crips) before they are
sent to the RLLE model. The FLC output function is obtained via
weighted average given by,
Pm
r¼1 V a1;r  W r
V a1 ¼ Pm ð31Þ
r¼1 W r
where m is the total number of rules ð3  3Þ, V a1 is the controller
output and r is the number of the rule. By focusing on the FLC
parameters, K a and K b were tuned using PSO in this stage so that
a zero error would eventually be reached.
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

Fig. 5. FLC block diagram.

FLC structure is similar to the previous FLC structure, which has

been discussed in topic 4.1.
The derivative action, d=dt tend to large corrective immediately
after an error change to eliminate the error as quickly as possible.
This situation causes overshoot and the system becomes unstable.
The transfer function of the derivative, is f ðd=dtÞ, therefore, formu-
lated as,

13s
f ðd=dtÞ ¼ ð32Þ
s þ 12
Therefore, the derivative, K d is obtained as,
Fig. 6. Membership of e, De and output.
13s
Kd ¼ Kc  ð33Þ
s þ 12
The FLC-PD output signal, v a2 is a non-linear function of the
error, e and change of error, De, is given as,



deðtÞ deðtÞ
V a2 ðtÞ ¼ f K a eðt Þ; K b  K p þ f K a eðtÞ; K b
dt dt
 KdÞ ð34Þ

Function f is the input–output mapped by FLC, while K a and K b ,

are the scaling factors for the input of FLC-PD controller. Therefore,
using a linear approximation, the output of FLC-PD is expressed as,
Fig. 7. FLC rule for exoskeleton joint.

deðt Þ
V a2 ðtÞ ¼ K p K a eðtÞ þ K p K b
dt


deðtÞ
þ K d K a eðtÞ þ K d K b ð35Þ
dt
By focusing on the FLC-PD parameters, K a and K b were tuned in
the previous FLC development stage, while K p is set to 1:0 and K c is
tuned using PSO so that a zero error,eðtÞ is eventually reached.

4.3. Particles swarm optimization

In this section, we briefly described the optimization algorithms

Fig. 8. FLC-PD controller structure.
4.2. Fuzzy-PD controller
In this paper, the FLC-PD control structures at each hip and knee
joint of exoskeleton were designed as shown in Fig. 8. The perfor-
mance of FLC is increased by the proportional, K P and derivative
function, K c  f ðd=dtÞ to reduce the overshoot, enhance damping
of the closed loop system and minimising the trajectory tracking
error. The K c , is a scaling factor of the derivative function. The
6
i.e., PSO for tuning the scaling factor of K a and K b on the FLC and
scaling factor of K c on the FLC-PD. The population based stochastic
optimization technique, PSO was first described in 1995 by Ken-
nedy and Eberhart [24]. PSO algorithm have advantages i.e., fast
computing speed, has only a few parameters to be adjusted,
requires only primitive mathematical operators, effective in global
search, computationally less memory and less time requirement
[25]. PSO approach has been successfully used in preprocessing,
learning and post-processing [26]. However, it has the disadvan-
tages i.e., weakness in the capacity of local search, low convergence
rate and trapping into local optimum [27].
In this paper, the FLC and FLC-PD is considered an optimum per-
formance when the parameter of K a , K b and K c are tuned so that
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

 
v i ðt þ 1Þ ¼ wv i ðtÞ þ C 1 r1 xpbest ðtÞ  xi ðt Þ
 
þ C 2 r2 xgbest ðt Þ  xi ðtÞ ð36Þ
and the new position value is characterised as follows,
xi ðt þ 1Þ ¼ xi ðt Þ þ v i ðt þ 1Þ ð37Þ
The 20 particles size, 2 dimension space, D for K a and K b , and 1
dimension for K c are set in the Eq. (38). The inertial weight, w is
calculated from Eq. (39) with wmax is ½100; 0:1 and wmin is
½1; 0:001 for K a and K b , wmax is ½0:1 and wmin is ½0:001 for K c .
The C 1 and C 2 is the acceleration constant for cognitive parameter
and social parameter, respectively; both have been set with maxi-
mum iteration, itermax is 200 and current iteration denoted as iter.
The r 1 and r2 are random values generated within ½0; 1 and xi ðtÞ is
value of former position. The best position experienced by each
particle is stored in xpbest (individual best position of ith particle)
and xgbest (global best position of the whole swarm) which has been
experiences ever.
C 1 ¼ C 2 ¼ 2  ð1  ðiter=itermax ÞÞ ð38Þ

w ¼ wmax  ððwmax  wmin Þ; itermax Þ  iter ð39Þ

The fitness function, which quantifies the controller’s perfor-
mance, is evaluated at the end of a step-response experiment.
The fitness function, integral of absolute error (IAE) over time in
Eq. (40), is used to converge to the optimal solution on target
variables.
Z t
IAE ¼ jeðtÞjdt ð40Þ
0

In order to minimize the fitness function, the unit step function,

uðtÞ is used. Thus, the signal uðt Þ is given by,

0 0 < t < 0:1
uðt Þ ¼ ð41Þ
50 0:1  t  2
where,u is a function of time,t. For these simulations, the fitness
function spans from t0 ¼ 0s to tfinal ¼ 2s. The IAE tends to result in
a good underdamped system; however, it tends to produce slower
response in the system. The best controller performance is defined
as the output system that minimizes this fitness function. Table 3
Fig. 9. PSO flowchart. exhibit the pseudo code of the PSO.

4.4. Adaptive-Fuzzy-PD controller

the fitness function reaches a minimum value. Firstly, the PSO is
applied to tune the parameter of K a and K b on FLC and second K c This section discusses the structure of the Adaptive-FLC-PD,
on FLC-PD through a flowchart in Fig. 9. The goal is to get the con- where the adaptive law was adopted to improve the FLC-PD track-
troller parameter with minimum tracking error where the angle of ing performance in real time. The gradient method of the MRAC
the exoskeleton joint driven by the DC motor can track the input
trajectory with minimum error.
A PSO algorithm consists of m particle in D dimension. Each par- Table 3
PSO pseudo code.
ticle moves to a new position according to previous velocity, previ-
ous best solution, and previous global best solution. Each particle Algorithm of PSO
on each dimensions represent the potential solution to optimise 1: Start PSO
the parameter of K a , K b and K c . Therefore, for FLC, the position 2: Initialize population with 20 particle, dimension of 2 for FLC and 1 for
and speed of ith particles of two dimension i.e. K a and K b is FLC-PD, max and minimum weight of each dimension, cognitive

xi ¼ ðxia ; xib Þ and v i ¼ ðv ia ; v ib Þ, respectively, where 1  i  m, a is

parameter and social parameter.
3: Evaluate fitness of initial population;
K a and b is K b . The historical best position for the ith particle is 4: Selecting the initial xpbest and xgbest
xpbest ¼ ðP ia; P ib Þ, while the best position for the whole swarm 5: While Number of iteration less than 200 do;
xgbest ¼ ðg a ; g b Þ. The same method is applied for the parameters of 6: Create new iteration;
7: Select the xpbest
FLC-PD i.e., K c , while K p is set to 1:0.
8: If xpbest less than the previous xgbest then;
The particle moves in the directions with referring to the local 9: Store it as xgbest
best and global best position. If a particle discovers a new probable 10: end if
solution, other particles will move closer to it in order to explore 11: End while
the region. The new velocity is characterised by the following 12: Select the particle of xgbest of the last generation as result
equation, 13: End PSO

7
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

where c ¼ ck=ko . For tracking purposes, the reference model is

0
was used for designing the adaptive control. The idea behind the
Adaptive-FLC-PD controller is to determine the error, e by compar- assumed to equal the angular trajectory on input; thus hm  hu .
ing a reference model to the angular of exoskeleton joint. Therefore, the adaptive controller yields,
The goal of MRAC is to improve FLC-PD performance on real
dK a
¼  c hu em
0
time, to minimise the tracking error due to changes of the system ð53Þ
parameters. dt
Regardless of the actual controller parameters, the MRAC adap- The structure of adaptive controller is shown in Fig. 10. This
tation takes the form of the adjustment of the parameter, K a so as controller was used to track the desired input angular trajectory;
to force the tracking error to zero. Therefore, the parameter dka =dt thus, the linear approximation of the output Adaptive-FLC-PD,
was used to adjust the parameter K a in FLC-PD. The parameter K a V a3 is expressed as,
was adjusted based on error e, which is defined as the difference

  dka   deðtÞ
between the output of the exoskeleton, h and the reference model V a3 ðtÞ ¼ K p þ K d K a  eðtÞ þ K p þ K d K b ð54Þ
dt dt
output, hm . Thus, the cost function was minimised as,
The parameters K a , K b and K c were determined previously,
1 2
JðK a Þ ¼ e ð42Þ while c; was tuned accordingly so that a zero error would eventu-
2 m
ally be achieved. Table 4 shows the comparison and summary of
The changes in K a in the direction of the negative gradient J is the FLC, FLC-PD and Adaptive-FLC-PD.
given by, Consider a general nonlinear dynamic system, are expressed as:
dK a @J @J @em x_ ðt Þ ¼ nðxðt ÞÞ þ gðxðtÞÞuðtÞ
¼ c ¼ c ð43Þ ð55Þ
dt @K a @em @K a yðt Þ ¼ f ðxðt ÞÞ
where the negative sign implies that K a is changed such that J
where xRn is the state vector, yRm is controlled output, uRm is the
becomes small; @em =@K a is the sensitivity derivatives of the tracking
control input vector. The functions of nonlinear are shown by
error, which shows how the error em is affected by the adjustment
nðxÞ; g ðxÞ and f ðxÞ. As a state equation in Eq. (26), the fuzzy system
in the K a parameter. The c represents the speed of adaption is tuned
is inferred as,
using trial and error would eventually less tracking error, resulting
in considerably less IAE value. To develop the adaptive parameter, X
3

the online tuning of parameter, K a was set as the goal. Thus, Eq. x_ ðt Þ ¼ hi ½Di xðt Þ þ Ei uðt Þ ð56Þ
i
(42) becomes,
    P
@J where hi Ai eðt Þ ¼ Pji¼1 Aji ej ðtÞ . Note that zi hi ðeðt ÞÞ ¼ 1 for all t,
¼ em ð44Þ Pz
@em where i hi ðeðtÞÞ  0 i ¼ 1; 2;    ; z are regarded as the grade func-
The error em is expressed by, tions. The subsystem matrices for fuzzy rules are shown by,
2 3
em ðt Þ ¼ hðtÞ  hm ðtÞ ð45Þ 0 1 0
6 7
D1 ¼ D2 ¼ D3 ¼ 4 0 0 1 5;
The output of RLLE model is represented by,
a14 =a11 a13 =a11 a12 =a11
h
¼ kGðsÞ ð46Þ 2 3 2 3 2 3
V a3 0 0 0
6 7 6 7 6 7
where k is unknown. The reference model is shown by, C 1 ¼ 4 0 5; C 2 ¼ 4 0 5; C3 ¼ 4 0 5 ð57Þ
w w w
hm a11 a11 a11
¼ kO GðsÞ ð47Þ
hu where w ¼ f ðx1 ; x2 ; x3 Þ. Let,
where ko is a constant. Substituting Eq. (44) into Eq. (43), yields, W  f ðx1 ; x2; x3 Þ
w 6 f ðx1 ; x2 ; x3 Þ 6 W; h1 ¼ ; h2
dK a @em Ww
¼ cem ð48Þ
dt @K a f ðx1 ; x2 ; x3 Þ  w
¼ ð58Þ
The error em is known, where @em
is the sensitivity of the differ- Ww
@K a
ential to be found. Thus, the Eq. (45), modified as, where W and w are the upper bound and lower bound of f ðx1 ; x2 ; x3 Þ.
For output trajectory tracking control, the controller objective is
@em
¼ kGðsÞhu ð49Þ required to satisfy,
@K a
Thus dK a =dt yields,
dK a
¼ cem kGðsÞhu ð50Þ
dt
However, kGðsÞhu cannot be obtained directly. Therefore, rear-
range Eq. (47) is derived,
hm
GðsÞhu ¼ ð51Þ
ko
Therefore, the adaptive controller is rewrite as,
dK a k yields
¼ c hm em ! ¼ c hm em
0
ð52Þ
dt ko
Fig. 10. Structure of Adaptive-FLC-PD.

8
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

Table 4
Comparison of FLC, FLC-PD and Adaptive-FLC-PD.

Comparison basis FLC FLC-PD Adaptive-FLC-PD

Control strategy Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy inference. Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy + Proportional Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy + (Proportional and
+ derivative function. derivative function) + online tuning by MRAC.
Type of Input and output. Two-input fuzzy, (eðtÞ, deðtÞ=dt), One-input,(V a ðt)), Two-output One-input,(eðt)), One-output, (dK a =dt).
one-output (V a ðt)). (kp; kd Þ.
Tuning parameter ka ; kb kp; kc c; dK a =dt
Tuning method PSO PSO Trial-and-error, MRAC.

hðt Þ  hu ðtÞ ! 0ast ! 1 ð59Þ Proof: Consider a Lyapunov candidate function defined as,
In order to convert the output tracking problem into a stabiliza- T
h iT V ¼ x ðt ÞP x ðtÞ > 0 ð70Þ
tion problem, a set of virtual desired variables xd ¼ hd h_ d €
hd , are
where, P is positive definite matrix. In this case, V is positive defi-
introduce, which are to be tracked by the state variables x. Let nite if and only if all the eigenvalues of P are positif (non-
x ðt Þ ¼ xðt Þ  xd ðt Þ denote the tracking error for the state variables. negative), which is true if and only if all the leading principal min-
The time derivative of x ðt Þ yields, ors of P are positive. If V is positive definite, we assume that the
matrix P is positive definite, therefore 0 > P. Taking the derivative
x_ ðtÞ ¼ x_  x_ d ð60Þ of V with respect to time yields,

X
3 _T T _
x_ ðtÞ ¼ hi ½Di xðtÞ þ Ei uðtÞ  x_ d ðtÞ ð61Þ V_ ¼ x ðt ÞP x ðtÞ þ x ðt ÞP xðt Þ
i X3 X 3
   X3
T
¼ hi hj x DTi P þ K Tj ETi P x þ
If the control input uðtÞ is assumed to satisfy the equation i¼1 j¼1 i¼1
below:

X
3 T
X
3 X
3 X3  hi hj x Di þ PEi K j x
hi Ei v c ðt Þ ¼ hi Ei uðt Þ þ h D x ðt Þ
i¼1 i i d
 x_ d ðtÞ ð62Þ j¼1

T 
i¼1 i¼1
X
3 X
3

where v c ðt Þ is Adaptive-FLC-PD control to be designed, then the ¼ hi hj x DTi P þ PDi þ K Tj M Ti þ Mi K j ð71Þ

i¼1 j¼1
tracking error system shown in Eq. (60) adopts in the following
form: where Mi ¼ PC i . Hence, the linear matrix inequalities are express as
X
3 X
3 follows:
x_ ðtÞ ¼ hi Di x ðtÞ þ hi Ei v c ðtÞ ð63Þ P>0
i¼1 i¼1

The design for new controller v c ðt Þ is similar to solve a stabiliza- DT1 P þ PD1 þ K Ta M T1 þ M 1 K a < 0
tion problem. The control objective is to steer x ðtÞ to zero, which
means that the state xðtÞ tracks xd ðt Þ. The Adaptive-FLC-PD con- DT1 P þ PD1 þ K Tb M T1 þ M 1 K b < 0
troller, v c ðtÞ is represented as follows:

Rule r : IF e is Ai AND De is Aj THEN v c is K i x ðtÞ ð64Þ DT1 P þ PD1 þ K Tc M T1 þ M 1 K c < 0

where K i carries the parameters,K a ; K b and K c of Adaptive-FLC-PD DT2 P þ PD2 þ K Ta M T2 þ M 2 K a < 0

controller. The inferred output of the Adaptive-FLC-PD controller
is presented in the following form:
DT2 P þ PD2 þ K Tb M T2 þ M 2 K b < 0
X
3
v c ðt Þ ¼ hi K i x ðt Þ ð65Þ DT2 P þ PD2 þ K Tc M T2 þ M 2 K c < 0
i¼1

Substituting Eq. (64) into Eq. (62) yields DT3 P þ PD3 þ K Ta M T3 þ M 3 K a < 0
_ X
3 X
3
 
xðt Þ ¼ hi hj Di þ Ei K j x ðt Þ ð66Þ DT3 P þ PD3 þ K Tb M T3 þ M 3 K b < 0
i¼1 j¼1

For the proposed Adaptive-FLC-PD controller, the following the- DT3 P þ PD3 þ K Tc M T3 þ M 3 K c < 0 ð72Þ
orem is proved. The system is assumed to be stable when t ¼ 1 and the system
is designed to be equilibrium, xðt Þ ¼ xd ðt Þ. Therefore, by using The-
Theorem 1. Consider x ¼ 0 be an equilibrium point for a nonlinear orem 1, since the system’s steady state error, eðtÞ converges to zero
system in Eq. (55) and F Rn be a domain containing x ¼ 0. Let
and V_ ¼ xT x, which is negative definite, we can proved that the
V : F ! R be a continuously differentiable function such that,
control system is asymptotically stable.
V ð0Þ ¼ 0 and V ðxÞ > 0 in F  f0g ð67Þ
5. Result and discussion
V_ ðxÞ < 0 in F (68)
By substituting the parameter values into Eq. (18), the mathe-
then; x ¼ 0 is stable: Moreover; if V_ ðxÞ < 0 in F  f0g ð69Þ
matical model of hip and knee of the RLLE are expressed as follows,
then x ¼ 0 is asymptotically stable.
9
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al.
h 37:3
Gknee ¼ ¼ ð73Þ
V a 0:0787S3 þ 4:159S2 þ 14:241s þ 41:251
h 39:060
Ghip ¼ ¼ ð74Þ
V a 0:0258S3 þ 3:6975S2 þ 146:170S þ 19:3685
The fitness function graph for the tuning parameter of K a and K b
on FLC is shown in Fig. 11. Based on the finding after 200 iterations,
it is found that it exhibits minimal fitness function when K a is
46:486 and K b is 0:0064 for hips joint, and K a is 59:993 and K b is
0:0651 for knees joint. Next, the determination parameter of K c
is intended to optimize the performance of FLC. The fitness func-
tion graph for the tuning parameter of K c on FLC-PD is shown in
Fig. 12. Based on the finding after 200 iterations, it is found that
it exhibits minimal fitness function when K c is 0:0634 and 0:03
for hips and knees joint, respectively. Eventually, determination
Adaptive-FLC-PD parameter of c , which intended to improve the
0
performance of FLC-PD. Based on the manual tuning methods,
the c parameter achieves output response performance with min-
0
ima fitness function at the hip and knee joint at 0:512 and
0:501, respectively.
The performance of FLC, FLC-PD and Adaptive-FLC-PD after tun-
ing parameters is shown in Fig. 13. It indicates increased perfor-
mance for FLC-PD compared to FLC in terms of accelerating
response; thus, FLC-PD gives a lower error than the FLC. However,
the overshoot and time to reach a steady state are longer than FLC.
The adaption derivative action, d=dt improves the transient
response’s performance; however, it encounters difficulties in
deleting the steady state error. The use of integral action on FLC
has an advantage in improving the steady state error; however, it
has poor performance in the transient response in higher-order
systems because of its inherent internal integration operation.
Fig. 11. Fitness function for tuning parameter of K a and K b on FLC using PSO.
Fig. 12. Fitness function for tuning parameter of K c on FLC-PD using PSO.
10
Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097
The integral action also tends to occurrence auto-wind-up prob-
lems. Thus, it is more convenient of many researchers to combine
integral and derivative actions in designing an FLC to achieve FLC-
PID. In this work, the Adaptive-FLC-PD is developed; the MRAC law
is used to automatically tune the scaling factor of FLC-PD parame-
ters to improve error by real-time rather than integral action. The
Adaptive-FLC-PD provided lower error, which means less than the
FLC and FLC-PD controller. Simulation via Matlab were conducted
to investigate the performance of the FLC, FLC-PD, and Adaptive-
FLC-PD controllers. This comparison are shown in Table 5.
Fig. 14 shows the tracking performance of these controllers at
the hip joint of the RLLE, while the knee joint of RLLE is demon-
strated in Fig. 15. The fitness function, IAE for hip and knee joint
controllers, is tested by entering the periodic trajectories as shown
in Figs. 14(a) and 15(a), respectively. A periodic trajectory is
defined as a reference of the control system for each joint. The
effecting of uncertainties, sd is represented using periodic sin wave
with an amplitude of 0.5 and frequency of 20 Hz.
The tracking result for hip and knee of RLLE modelling in Figs. 14
(b) and 15(b) shows that the performance of FLC-PD indicates
increased compared to FLC in terms of error, IAE. It indicates that
the proportional derivative function on the FLC structure reduces
the overshoot, enhances damping on the closed-loop system and
minimises the trajectory tracking error. Figs. 14(c) and 15(c) illus-
trate the adaptive controller’s output signal, periodic graphs. The
Adaptive-FLC-PD controller performs better performance, i.e.,
lower error than the FLC and FLC-PD. The adaptive controller
serves as an online adjustment mechanism to tune the K d param-
eter to optimize the performance of the FLC-PD controller. There-
fore, the Adaptive-FLC-PD is automatically tune the FLC-PD
parameters and act to improve error by real time, rather than inte-
gral action.
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

Fig. 13. Comparison of angular joint of exoskeleton after completion tuning parameter.

Table 5
Parameter tuning of FLC, FLC-PD and Adaptive-FLC-PD using PSO.

c
0
Controller Types RLLE joint Ka Kb Kc fitness function (IAE) Percentage improvement compared to FLC(%)

FLC Hip 46.486 0.0064 – – 0.3578 –

Knee 59.993 0.0651 – – 0.3332 –
FLC-PD Hip 46.486 0.0064 0.0634 – 0.3363 6.010
Knee 59.993 0.0651 0.03 – 0.2955 11.315
Adaptive-FLC-PD Hip 46.486 0.0064 0.0634 0.512 0.2999 16.182
Knee 59.993 0.0651 0.03 0.501 0.2810 15.666

Fig. 14. Performance comparison of output for FLC, FLC-PD and Adaptive-FLC-PD on hip joint.

11
N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

Fig. 15. Performance comparison of output for FLC, FLC-PD and Adaptive-FLC-PD on knee joint.

Table 6
Parameter tuning of FLC, FLC-PD and Adaptive-FLC-PD using PSO.

RLLE joint FLC FLC-PD Adaptive-FLC-PD

Fitness Percentage Maksimum Fitness Percentage Maksimum Fitness Maksimum Percentage
function (%) error function improvement error function error improvement
(IAE) (angle, °) (IAE) compared to FLC (%) (angle, °) (IAE) (angle, °) compared to FLC (%)
Hip 0.4731 0 2.593 0.3901 17.544 2.559 0.3425 2.002 27.605
Knee 0.3826 0 2.582 0.3494 8.677 2.561 0.3049 2.022 20.308

Table 6 shows the overall controller performance on the hip and
knee of RLLE joints. All results demonstrated that Adaptive-FLC-PD
indicates better trajectory tracking performance compared to the
FLC and FLC-PD. Average controllers’ performance showed that
FLC-PD increased 17.544% and 8.677% compared to FLC at hip
and knee exoskeleton joint, respectively. In another comparison,
the Adaptive-FLC-PD performs better at 10.061% and 11.631% than
FLC-PD on hip and knee exoskeleton joints, respectively. The
dynamical analysis of the RLLE investigates a relation between
the joint torques applied by the DC motor and the joint angle of
the hip and knee of RLLE with respect to the time. From the view
of the joint torque shown in Figs. 14(d) and 15(d), there are several
oscillations of the control torque with Adaptive-FLC-PD at the
starting time of the adaptive controller. The oscillating phe-
nomenon at the beginning time was also observed in [11,14,28],
which is not desirable for the actuators and physical human–RLLE
interaction in rehabilitation tasks. On the contrary, the control tor-
que generated by FLC and FLC-PD is smooth. The simulation results
show that the maximum torque at the hip and knee joints is
20 Nm. Therefore, the DC motor is capable of delivering the
required forces and torques needed for the movement of lower
limb exercises.
The current study of Adaptive-FLC-PD is compared to the other
three FLC proportional integral derivative based. The comparison is
shown in Table 7. In terms of the controller structure, the current
study reduces the tracking error by using MRAC law to automati-
cally tune the scaling factor of the input signal in real-time. Com-
pared with other controller structures in [29] and [11], the
performance of FLC is increased by integral action without online
tuning. In [12], they combine the fractional order fuzzy Propor-
tional derivative and fractional order fuzzy Integral in parallel.
The result shows that Adaptive-FLC-PD improves 23.684% of the
FLC performance, while FLC proportional-integral-derivative-based
improves more than 62% compared to conventional PID.
The present study shows that the maximum error is higher than
the FLC-PID controller demonstrated in [11]. The RLLE system to be
controlled in this study is more complex due to the patient
dynamic influences the exoskeleton structure. The RLLE model is

12
 N. Aliman, R. Ramli, S. Mohamed Haris et al. Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal 35 (2022) 101097

more challenging due to its high nonlinear characteristic than the

Hybrid of FLC-PI and FLC-PD (FOFPD + I) [12]

system demonstrated in [11]. Based on the controller structure in

[11,29] and [12], we can see that, the nonlinear system depends
Proportional derivative and fractional
Summation of fractional order fuzzy

on the scaling factor of the input and output of the controller to

96.308 (Joint 1), 96.948 (Joint 2)

increase the controller performance. This comparison also shows
that the scaling factor adjustment on input and output is still the

2:669  104 ; 9:188  105

96.628 (Compared to PID)

focus of recent researchers.

Note: compared to PID

Sinusoidal disturbance
Robotic manipulator.
order fuzzy Integral.

6. Conclusion

The tracking angular joint trajectory of the non-linear dynamic

NSGA-II

of multi-joints RLLE for physiotherapy and rehabilitation purposes

N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

has prompted the need for high-performance controller methods.

Thus, in this paper, we presented a new MRAC algorithm by FLC
and proportional Derivative controller (Adaptive-FLC-PD) for RLLE
modelling in passive mode rehabilitation exercise. The perfor-
0.004881 (hip right), 0.0108 (knee right).
0.006325 (hip left), 0.01189 (knee left).

mance of Adaptive-FLC-PD is analyzed and compared to the FLC-

87.00 (hip right), 84.298 (knee right),

PD and FLC. In FLC-PD, it was employed with derivative function,

87.815 (hip left), 85.463 (knee left)
Dragon fly algorithm FLC-PID [11]

two-output,deðtÞ=dt and integral.

which is used to improve the FLC performance. In Adaptive-FLC-

Two-input fuzzy, eðtÞ, deðtÞ=dt,

4-dof lower-limb exoskeleton.

PD, the MRAC were integrate on the FLC-PD to optimize the con-
86.144 (Compared to PID)

troller performance. Simulation via Matlab was shown to investi-

Hip and knee trajectory

Note: compared to PID

gate the performance of these controllers. The periodic input

Dragon fly algorithm

trajectory is tracked by controlling the rotation angle of the DC

motor on the hip and knee RLLE joint. As a result, the Adaptive-
FLC-PD provides great performance and less error compared to
FLC-PD and FLC in RLLE tracking trajectory control. This method
is therefore deemed useful for designing, tuning, and simulating
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

control systems; by allowing an overview of the controller perfor-

mance prior to the construction of the actual prototype. In the
future, Adaptive-FLC-PD will be further tested the performance
and one-output, integral action.

by increasing the membership functions of input and output vari-

Two-input fuzzy, eðtÞ, deðtÞ=dt

ables. Moreover, the comparison and analysis of the Adaptive-FLC-

Dual star induction motor.

62 Note: Compared to PID

PD controller for the actual RLLE prototype, including the actual

62 (Compared to PID)

patient, will be investigated. The development of the RLLE proto-

type is also in progress. It will be directed toward extending the
proposed controller at another rehabilitation mode, namely, assist
FLC-PID [29]

as needed.
Comparison of Adaptive-FLC-PD with other structure of FLC based proportional derivative controller.

0.5473
Ram
PSO

N/A
0.8
50
10

Declaration of Competing Interest

3

2
2

The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-

deðtÞ=dt, one-output, f ðd=dtÞ and MRAC.

cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared

to influence the work reported in this paper.
Current study (Adaptive-FLC-PD)

(knee) Note: compared to FLC.

Acknowledgments
RLLE – hip and knee model.

23.684 (compared to FLC).

27.0605 (hip) and 20.308
0.299 (hip), 0.281 (knee).
2.002 (hip), 2.022 (knee).
Two-input fuzzy, eðtÞ,

This work was supported by MyBrain15, Ministry of Education,

Knee angle trajectory

Malaysia. The authors are also thankful to the Ministry of Higher

Based on Eq. (38)
Based on Eq. (38)

Education for supporting this study under research grant

FRGS/1/2017/TK03/UKM/02/4.
[0.001,0.1]
PSO

200

References
20

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cognitive parameter
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