Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Classical vs Intelligent Control

EN9940 Special Topics in Robotics Bax Smith 9645953

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 1 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Summary

This paper gives an introduction to the basic concepts of classical control systems and intelligent control systems. Further it contrasts the two control system areas and gives examples of how each would be applied.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 2 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Table of Contents
Summary ............................................................................................................................. 2 Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ 3 List Of Figures .................................................................................................................... 4

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Distinguishing between Classical and Intelligent Control ........................................ 5 1.2 Shifting Intelligence .................................................................................................. 5

2. Methods for Classical Control...................................................... 7

2.1 Open-Loop Control System ...................................................................................... 7 2.2 Closed-Loop Control System .................................................................................... 7 2.3 System Modeling....................................................................................................... 8 2.4 Classical Control Examples ...................................................................................... 9 2.4.1 Open-Loop Control ............................................................................................ 9 2.4.2 PID Control ...................................................................................................... 10

3. Methods for Intelligent Control ................................................ 11

3.1 No System Modeling............................................................................................... 11 3.2 Intelligent Control Examples .................................................................................. 11 3.2.1 Fuzzy Logic Control......................................................................................... 11 3.2.2 Artificial Neural Networks............................................................................... 13 3.2.3 Genetic Programming ...................................................................................... 16 3.2.4 Support Vector Machines................................................................................. 17 3.2.5 Reinforcement Learning................................................................................... 17

4. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 19 5. References....................................................................................................... 20

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 3 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

List Of Figures
Figure 1. Shifting Intelligence............................................................................................ 6 Figure 2. An Open-Loop Control System. ......................................................................... 7 Figure 3. A Closed-Loop Control System.......................................................................... 8 Figure 4. First Order and Second Order Transfer Functions.............................................. 9 Figure 5. Model of a Cruise Control System. .................................................................... 9 Figure 6. PID Control Signal............................................................................................ 10 Figure 7. Fuzzy Logic Control of the distance between two cars. ................................... 12 Figure 8. Fuzzy subset intervals for Distance, Velocity and Braking Force.................... 12 Figure 9. Biological neurons interconnected.................................................................... 13 Figure 10. A single artificial neuron showing its parts. ................................................... 14 Figure 11. A Backpropagation-ANN. .............................................................................. 15 Figure 12. Backpropagation Algorithm ........................................................................... 15 Figure 13. Mutation (left) and Crossover Operations in Genetic Programming.............. 17

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 4 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

1. Introduction
Control systems theory [1, 9] has always been at the heart of Robotics. Whether it is a mobile robot or a robot arm, in general, some sort of control systems theory is required. Two simple examples are easily realizable in the Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISLAB). First, the RT200 robot arm utilizes a control system to move each arm segment to its setpoint. Secondly, the wheelchair robot utilizes a control system to move itself around. Over the years, many methods for control have been developed. Each of these has had its own advantages and disadvantages over other methods. The different methods of control can be divided into two categories: Classical Control (CC) and Intelligent Control (IC). The differences between these two categories are explained below.

1.1 Distinguishing between Classical and Intelligent Control

This section explains the differences between CC and IC. In developing a CC system to control an agent or plant, the designer constructs a mathematical model of the system. This model contains all the dynamics of the plant that affects controlling it. This type of control is called the Mathematicians Approach, since the designer must mathematically model the plant to be controlled. In developing an IC system to control an agent or plant, the designer inputs the system behavior and the IC system abstractly models the system. This type of control is affectionately called the Lazymans Approach, since the designer doesnt need to know the internal dynamics of the plant to be controlled. It should be noted that in many cases, the plant may be too complex to be modeled.

1.2 Shifting Intelligence

To give a better understanding of the separation between CC and IC, the notion of shifting intelligence is sometimes helpful. For CC the designer must model the system to be controlled and therefore the intelligence (or knowledge) lies with him. The intelligence is shifted towards the designer. For IC the software abstractly models the system and therefore the intelligence (or knowledge) lies with it. The intelligence is shifted towards the software. This is illustrated in Figure 1. It should be noted here, however, that the designer must have some knowledge of the system, since ultimately he is designing the system. He just doesnt need enough to develop an accurate model of it.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 5 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Figure 1. Shifting Intelligence.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 6 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

2. Methods for Classical Control

This section will introduce, at a very high level, the idea of CC. It will begin with a distinction of two types of common control systems, an explanation of system modeling, and some CC examples.

2.1 Open-Loop Control System

An open-loop control system [1, 9] is one in which a signal is sent to a plant (or robot) in order to make it move to a certain position. There is no relationship or feedback from the plant to ensure that it went to a position that the signal told it to. See Figure 2.

Figure 2. An Open-Loop Control System.

The important thing to note in the above figure is that the output of the process (ie the plant) isnt fed back to the controller in any way. An open-loop controller (OLC) applies a correction effort when needed and assumes the desired results will be obtained. As an example, an oil pipeline may have an emergency shutdown controller that automatically shuts the system down and clears the pipes if a spark is detected.

2.2 Closed-Loop Control System

A closed-loop control system [1, 9] is one in which the difference between the desired position and actual position is sent to the plant. In contrast to an open-loop control system, there is feedback from the plant to ensure that it went to the desired position. See Figure 3.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 7 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Figure 3. A Closed-Loop Control System.

The important thing to note in the above figure is that the output (o) of the process (ie the plant) is fed back to the controller in the form of a difference in the desired signal (i o). A closed-loop controller (CLC) can keep a cars speed constant through an uphill climb and keep an ovens temperature within a range. Although every CLC has its own strategy for accomplishing its goal, the underlying idea is the same: measure a variable, if it is not acceptable, apply a correction process and repeat. It is interesting to note that CLCs may sometimes act as OLCs. For example, a sensor may not provide a feedback signal or an operator may take over the feedback operation to manipulate the controllers output manually.

2.3 System Modeling

The whole premise behind CC is that the system to be controlled has to be rigidly modeled. Usually, this is accomplished by approximating the system to a first-order or second-order transfer function. Examples of first-order and second-order transfer functions are shown in Figure 4.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 8 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Figure 4. First Order and Second Order Transfer Functions

2.4 Classical Control Examples

To illustrate the use of classical control, two of the more common methods will be used. These methods are basic OLC, and PID CLC. Both methods have been around since the beginning of control systems theory. There are many other methods, each of which have their own advantages, but that is beyond the scope of this paper [1, 9].

2.4.1 Open-Loop Control

Consider a cruise control system. The first step in any CC system is to create a model of the system. Ignoring the inertia of the wheels and assuming that friction (which is proportional to the speed of the car) is the only force that is opposing the motion of the car, then the problem is reduced to a simple mass and damper system. See Figure 5.

Figure 5. Model of a Cruise Control System.

Newtons law gives a model of the system:

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 9 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

where u is the force from the engine, m is the mass of the car, v is the velocity of the car and bv is the force due to friction.

2.4.2 PID Control

PID control is a very straightforward CLC system. Basically, the signal driving the plant is made up of a proportional gain (KP), an integral gain (KI) and a derivative gain (KD). Hence the name PID. See Figure 6. The proportional gain is a pure gain adjustment acting on the error signal. The error signal is the difference between the desired position and the actual position of the plant. The integral gain adjusts the accuracy of the plant, and the derivative gain adjusts the damping of the plant.

Figure 6. PID Control Signal.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 10 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

3. Methods for Intelligent Control

This section will introduce, at a very high level, the idea of IC. It will begin with an explanation of the non-existence of system modeling, and then give some IC examples.

3.1 No System Modeling

The whole premise behind IC is that the system to be controlled does not have to be rigidly modeled. This is the biggest distinction between IC and CC. Here the designer only has to input the appropriate stimuli to the IC and evaluate it on its output. The IC itself develops a model of the system to be controlled.

3.2 Intelligent Control Examples

Humans can perform complex tasks without knowing exactly how they do them. In the next few subsections, IC solutions to different control problems are presented. The types of IC includes: fuzzy logic [8], artificial neural networks [3], genetic programming [7], support vector machines [4-6] and reinforcement learning [2].

3.2.1 Fuzzy Logic Control

Fuzzy logic, like most of the IC techniques attempts to model the way of reasoning that goes on in the human brain. It is based on the idea that the human reasoning is approximate, non-quantitative, and non-binary. In many cases, there is no black and white answer, but shades of grey. The simplest example of this is temperature. Usually, when you ask someone the temperature, they respond with pretty cold or very hot as opposed to 24.36 degrees. The general approach to fuzzy logic control (FLC) is made up of 5 steps. These steps are: 1) Define the Input and Output Variables 2) Define the subsets intervals 3) Choose the Membership Functions 4) Set the IF-THEN rules 5) Perform calculations and adjust rules A simple example to illustrate these steps is the problem of controlling the distance between two cars. First, define the inputs and outputs. There are two inputs: D, the distance between the cars, and v, the velocity of the following car. There is one output: B, the amount of braking to apply to the following car (force). The inputs and outputs are shown in Figure 7.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 11 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Figure 7. Fuzzy Logic Control of the distance between two cars.

Second, define the subsets intervals. To simplify things, 3 subset intervals will be chosen for each variable. These are low, medium and high for distance and velocity, and small, medium and big for braking force. These subset intervals are illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 8. Fuzzy subset intervals for Distance, Velocity and Braking Force.

Third, choose the membership functions. In this example, the shape of the membership functions are fairly simple, just a linear transition between the various subsets. See Figure 8. To illustrate, in Figure 8 the membership function for low distance goes down linearly from 1 to 0 as distance goes from 0 to 5 meters. Fourth, set the IF-THEN rules. This is how combinations of the input determine the output. For example, IF the distance, D, between the cars is low AND the velocity of the following car is high, THEN the braking to apply is big. Similarly, the other rules are defined. This is where the non-quantitative human reasoning comes in. Fifth, perform calculations and adjust the rules. Since the rules are non-exact some adjustments may be necessary to more optimally control the vehicles distance. As an example, say the distance between the vehicles is 2.5 meters and the speed of the following car is 100 km/h. From the distance subset in Figure 8, the 2.5 meter distance translates into 0.25 medium distance plus 0.5 low distance. Likewise, the 100 km/h speed translates into 0.75 high speed. Various methods to determine an output can be EN9940 Memorial University Page 12 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

applied. Here the minimum of the two possible subset membership of the two inputs will be used. A 0.25 medium distance AND 0.75 high speed gives 0.25 medium braking. A 0.5 low distance AND 0.75 high speed gives 0.5 big braking. The center of gravity of the area under the braking curve due to these two portions is computed and taken as the amount of braking to apply to the following vehicles. Although the center of gravity was used in this example, many other techniques exist for determining the output.

3.2.2 Artificial Neural Networks

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) attempt to mimic the structure and function of the human nervous system. There are many different types of ANNs. These include: backpropagation, linear vector quantization, hopfield, art, artmap and many others. The most common is backpropagation. The human nervous system is composed of many interconnected neurons. How these neurons interconnect determines how knowledge is stored. See Figure 9. Signals are transmitted from neuron to neuron by electrical pulses traveling along the axon. These are attached to other neurons by a synapse close to a dendrite of the second neuron. When a pulse occurs at the synapse, a small amount of chemical (neurotransmitter) is released and travels to the dendrite. This starts a change in potential at the dendrite. The neuron sums the potential of all such interconnections and if it is higher than some threshold, fires its own electrical pulse along its axon, thus repeating the process.

Figure 9. Biological neurons interconnected.

ANNs act similarly. Artificial neurons receive input from other neurons through a weighting function. See Figure 10. This is usually an amplification or suppression of the signal. All of such signals connected to the neuron are added together. If this sum is higher than some threshold the neuron will fire and send out its own signal to other EN9940 Memorial University Page 13 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

neurons. The output of the neuron is often determined by a sigmoid function of its input rather than the threshold function. This gives the neuron a non-linear input to output relationship. It should be noted that the knowledge is stored in the input weights of the

Figure 10. A single artificial neuron showing its parts.

neuron. Adjusting these weights give the neurons the ability to store different information. One neuron cant store much information, but many neurons, interconnected in several layers can store much information. See Figure 11.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 14 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Figure 11. A Backpropagation-ANN.

The backpropagation algorithm is fairly straight forward. It is outlined in Figure 12.

Figure 12. Backpropagation Algorithm

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 15 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

In the above figure, ok is the output for layer k, whi is the weights from node i to h, xi is the input from node i, is the neural function (threshold or sigmoid), is a measure of how much a neuron should be adjusted by, t is what the output of the ANN should have been, and is the learning rate. This method of developing ANNs has been around for some time, and has found many uses. The most obvious examples would be to use an ANN for the navigation and obstacle avoidance of a mobile robot [3], and to use an ANN as a servo controller for controlling robotic manipulators [3].

3.2.3 Genetic Programming

Genetic programming (GP) directly derives from genetic algorithms, except the output of GP is another program. The idea behind GP is to create new programs to solve a control problem based on the ones that work best now. There are four steps to implementing GP. The first step is to generate a random group of functions and terminals. Each random group will constitute a computer program. Functions are operators such as +, -, *, /, etc Terminals are the inputs and outputs to the problem. For example, for the car following problem looked at earlier, the terminals would be the distance between the cars, the velocity of the following car and the amount of braking applied to the following car. The second step is to execute each program and assign a number (called a fitness value) to each program according to how well it did in solving the problem. The third step is to create a new population via mutation, crossover and the most fit programs. Mutation involves randomly changing functions and terminals of a program. See Figure 13. Crossover involves swapping functions and terminals of one program with functions and terminals of another program. See Figure 13.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 16 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

Figure 13. Mutation (left) and Crossover Operations in Genetic Programming.

The above three steps are repeated a set number of times or until a desired fitness value is reached. Which ever program works the best is the result of GP.

3.2.4 Support Vector Machines

Support vector machines (SVMs) find most of their applications in pattern recognition areas (ie computer vision). They can, however, be used in control problems, although they have not been used a lot for this purpose. The general theory of SVMs has been covered by this author in a previous paper and the reader is referred there for further reading [4]. Probably the most well known paper on using SVMs for control is that by Suykens et al. [6]. That paper discusses using SVMs to optimally control a non-linear system. Several examples are developed in the paper. These include the inverted pendulum problem, and the ball and beam problem (ie a ball rolling on a see-saw).

3.2.5 Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement learning has much the same idea the other forms of IC. Reinforcement learning involves presenting an agent (ie a robot or plant) with a set of action choices, initially believed to be equally rewarding. The agent then makes choices, based on a behavioral policy, and receives rewards or punishments (through a reward function) EN9940 Memorial University Page 17 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

based on these choices. These rewards/punishments affect how the agent will make its choices when it encounters the same scenario again. Thus it learns what choices are rewarding and which are not. There are many examples of uses of reinforcement learning in an earlier paper for this course [2]. The reader is referred there for an in-depth study of reinforcement learning. Some of the examples include the inverted pendulum problem and control of a walking hexapod.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 18 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

4. Conclusion
Classical control systems and intelligent control systems both have their place in control systems theory. Usually when classical control can be used, it is. This is due to the simple fact that intelligent control can be over-kill in some situations. Intelligent control systems excel in areas that are highly non-linear, or when classical control systems fail, or a model of the system is difficult or impossible to obtain. Robotics lends itself to the use of intelligent control due to the fact that the system is difficult (often impossible) to model. In fact, the non-deterministic nature of robotics almost requires some sort of intelligent control in order to be effective.

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 19 of 20

Classical vs Intelligent Control

2002

5. References
[1] Phillips, C. L., Harbor, R. D., Feedback Control Systems, 2nd Ed., Prentice-Hall, 1991 [2] Seshadri, J., Reinforcement Learning, ISL-0008 [3] Morris, A. S., Zalzala, A. M., Neural Networks for Robotic Control: Theory and Applications, Ellis Horwood, 1996 [4] Smith, B. Support Vector Machines for Object Recognition, NECEC 2001 [5] Scholkopf, B., Burges, C., Smola, A., Advances in Kernel Methods: Support Vector Learning, The MIT Press, 1999 [6] Suykens, J. A. K., Vandewalle, J., De Moor, B., Optimal Control by Least Squares Support Vector Machines, Neural Networks 14, pp 23-35, 2001 [7] Koza, J., Genetic Programming, http://www.geneticprogramming.com/johnkoza.html [8] Bauer, P., Nouak, S., Winkler, R., A brief course in Fuzzy Logic and Fuzzy Control, http://www.flll.uni-linz.ac.at/pdw/fuzzy/fuzzy.html [9] Nise, N., Control Systems Engineering, 2nd Ed., BCPC, 1995

EN9940

Memorial University

Page 20 of 20