High-performance foot trajectory tracking control of hydraulic legged robots based on fixed-time disturbance observers

Purpose There are various uncertain and nonlinear problems in hydraulic legged robot systems, including parameter uncertainty, unmodeled dynamics and external disturbances. This study aims to eliminate uncertainties and improve the foot trajectory tracking control performance of hydraulic legged robots, a high-performance foot trajectory tracking control method based on fixed-time disturbance observers for hydraulic legged robots is proposed. Design/methodology/approach First, the robot leg mechanical system model and hydraulic system model of the hydraulic legged robot are established. Subsequently, two fixed-time disturbance observers are designed to address the unmatched lumped uncertainty and match lumped uncertainty in the system. Finally, the lumped uncertainties are compensated in the controller design, and the designed motion controller also achieves fixed-time stability. Findings Through simulation and experiments, it can be found that the proposed tracking control method based on fixed-time observers has better tracking control performance. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method have been verified. Originality/value Both the disturbance observers and the controller achieve fixed-time stability, effectively improving the performance of foot trajectory tracking control for hydraulic legged robots.