Reliable control for bilateral teleoperation systems with actuator faults using fuzzy disturbance observer

In this study, the synchronisation problem of bilateral teleoperation systems with time‐delay and actuator faults is considered. First, the error dynamic system with actuator faults is modelled as a time‐delay system with disturbance, and a fuzzy disturbance observer (FDO) is designed to estimate the unknown non‐linear disturbance. Moreover, an FDO‐based robust controller is provided for the master robot and a reliable controller is designed for the slave robot, respectively. Next, a sufficient condition is given to ensure the tracking error; the disturbance observation error and the parameter error are uniformly ultimate bounded. Finally, a numerical example is shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.