Fault-Tolerant, Rigidity-Preserving Control of Inflatable Truss Robots

TL;DR

This paper develops a fault-tolerant control framework for inflatable robotic trusses that maintains structural rigidity and operational workspace despite motor failures, validated through simulations and hardware tests.

Contribution

It introduces a novel control approach combining kinematic optimization, DTCBF constraints, and closed-loop feedback to enhance robustness of inflatable truss robots.

Findings

>69% workspace preservation under single-motor failures

>25% improvement in tracking accuracy with closed-loop control

Validated effectiveness through simulation and hardware experiments

Abstract

Isoperimetric robotic trusses can adapt to different tasks and environments because they have a high strength-to-weight ratio, can change their own shape dramatically, and can be reconfigured into a variety of different shapes. However, motor failures in operational environments can severely limit operational capabilities if not properly addressed. This paper presents a fault-tolerant control framework for an inflatable robotic truss that maintains functionality despite motor failures, shown through three key contributions. First, we extend the kinematic optimization to handle arbitrary combinations of motor failures by imposing equality constraints to ensure failed actuators are not used. Second, we introduce discrete-time control barrier function (DTCBF) constraints that mathematically guarantee structural rigidity while maximizing workspace utilization, a critical requirement for reliable operation of truss robots under discrete-time control. Third, we implement closed-loop position control using onboard encoder feedback and a forward kinematics-based state estimator, improving positional accuracy in the presence of disturbances. We validate our approach through simulation and hardware experiments on a 2D isoperimetric truss testbed. For a 2D configuration with 6 actuators, we demonstrate >69% workspace preservation under single-motor failures and a >25% improvement in tracking accuracy with closed-loop control. These results establish a foundation for more robust and resilient isoperimetric truss robots operating under degraded actuation.