Robotics Control with

LSDYNA and MATLAB

Xiaomeng Tong 05/23/2019
Model in LSDYNA
Purpose: control the robotics motion to track the letters “LSTC” at the robotics end.

8. letter
9. wrist 10. end
7. front arm
6. Rear arm

5. Upper bicep
6 Revolute joint:
4. Long arm 1. base-turret
2. Turret-lower bicep
3. Upper bicep-rear arm
4. Rear arm-front arm
3. Lower bicep 5. Front arm-wrist
6. Wrist-end
2. turret

1. base
Model in LSDYNA
Steps

1. The Parasolid model is imported with HM to

generate the necessary mesh for DYNA.
2. All bodies are rigid and joints are defined for
connection.
3. FMU is generated with LSDYNA and imported
into MATLAB.
4. Control diagram is built in MATLAB, which co-
simulates with LSDYNA through FMU.

Boundary conditions

1. The “base” is fixed in all DOFs.

2. Except “turret”, all other parts are prescribed
with motions.
force 3. Node force is controlled by MATLAB to change
the rotating motion of the turret, so that the
2. turret robotics end can track the letters.

1. base
Control Schematics in MATLAB
LSDYNA
Control Strategy in MATLAB

1. MATLAB receives the nodal velocity and

displacement at each time step from DYNA, and
calculates the rotating angle of the joint.
2. MATLAB compares the measured angled with the
designed joint angle. The angle error goes
through PID controller to output the torque. force
3. The torque is translated into force, and sent to
LSDYNA through FMU.
Velocity &
displacement

designed angle
Measured angle
PID
controller FMU

MATLAB
Simulation results in DYNA
Back view (click to open) Front view (click to open)
Coming work

• 1. Add more features in FMU to support the control capability,

especially related to rigid bodies, such as angle, angular velocity.
• 2. Need to implement another example in the car suspension system to
check if the current joints in DYNA can implement similar application as
Adams (Adams has more joint types, I need to check with DYNA to see
whether they are all necessary).