In this paper we present a Hardware-In-the-Loop setup for the simulation of complex mechatronic systems. The setup consists of two coupled brushless motors. One of them is the motor under test, which is used to design the control algorithm and to test the control software, while the other one simulates the device to be controlled. Libraries of mechanical and hydraulic components have been implemented in an IEC61131-3 language so that a complex system can be simulated in a relatively easy way and this allows for a rapid control prototyping. Practical issues are discussed and an illustrative example is shown to confirm the effectiveness of the setup.

In this paper we experimentally analyze the performances of an hybrid force/velocity controller for the automatic edge following of 2D unknown planar contours performed by a robot manipulator. In this work we show that joint friction effects have to be taken into account in the controller design in order to achieve reasonable performances in terms of normal force and tangential velocities errors. For this reason we compare two model-based methods for coping with friction: a static one based on a previously identified model and an adaptive one recursively updating joint friction parameters. The proposed controllers are compared through an extensive experimental activity on a 2-DOF SCARA robot tracking an high stiffness aluminium-bar over a wide range of operative conditions.