Intelligent Robust Control of Roadheader Based on Disturbance Observer

The formation of a coal mine roadway cross-section is a primary task of the boom-type roadheader. This paper proposes an intelligent robust control scheme for the cutting head trajectory of a coal mine tunneling robot, which is susceptible to unknown external disturbances, system nonlinearity, and parameter uncertainties. First, the working conditions of the cutting section were analyzed, and a mathematical model was established. Then, a high-gain disturbance observer was designed based on the system model to analyze cutting loads and compensate for uncertainties and disturbances. A sliding mode controller was proposed using the backstepping design method, incorporating a saturation function control term to avoid chattering. The eel foraging optimization algorithm was also improved and used to tune the controller parameters. A simulation model of the system was developed for performance comparison tests. Finally, experimental verification was conducted under actual working conditions in a tunnel face, and the results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed control method.