This project addresses the topic of adaptive control of robots. Specifically, if focuses on instability mechanisms in the adaptive control of robots and teleoperators. These instability phenomena arises from external disturbances and unmodeled dynamics. The phenomena to be investigated include slow parameter drift instabilities, high gain instabilities, fast adaptation instabilities, bursting, and others. Various techniques including singular perturbation theory and averaging, integral manifolds, network theory and scattering theory will be used to understand the basic phenomena. Experiments will be conducted on robotic devices to test theory. Ultimately, it is expected that understanding these instability phenomena will be a factor in the design and implementation of robust controllers for robots.
