Model-Free Control of Movement in a Tendon-Driven Limb via a Modified Genetic Algorithm

Tendon-driven systems have many benefits over other actuation strategies such as torque-driven systems; however, their over-determined nature and posture-dependent actuation presents strong constraints on their control. Also, parameters or even exact structure of the model in these systems, especially in the biological ones, are normally not clear to the controller. Here, we propose a modified Genetic Algorithm that provides the tendon excursion values for the limb to follow a desired trajectory. Our results show that the proposed algorithm was able to accurately follow the desired trajectory without the model of the system being exposed to it. We believe that this method can enable biologically inspired tendon-driven mechanisms with variable mechanical structures to autonomously control their movements.