Dr. SHEN HenghuaPan, Ya-JunYa-JunPan2026-09-102026-09-102022IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2022, vol. 27(6), pp. 4373-4383.1083-44351941-014Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11861/29340In this article, we focus on the position synchronization of nonlinear multimanipulator systems. For robot manipulators that are only equipped with joint position measurement devices with measurement noises, a continuous-discrete adaptive unscented Kalman filter (CD-AUKF) is implemented to acquire smoother manipulator position states, and, meanwhile, estimate high-order states (e.g., velocity and acceleration). However, in closed-loop control of networked multimanipulator systems, using estimated states may result in a drastic increase in tracking errors. This shortcoming is addressed by an energy index-based neighbor selection policy (NSP). To maintain a higher tracking performance, the NSP allows each agent to actively select well-performing neighbors to interact with, while the poor-quality neighbor data is discarded. Finally, to regulate the multimanipulator system in the presence of parametric uncertainties, friction, disturbances, time-varying network delays, and packet loss, an adaptive nonsingular terminal sliding-mode (ANTSM) controller is designed. A group of Phantom Omni robotic devices were used to carry out numerical simulations and experimental studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ANTSM control method, CD-AUKF estimation, and active neighbor-selection policy.enNeighborhood SelectionFrictionControl MethodNonlinear SystemsNumerical StudiesMeasurement NoiseKalman FilterTracking ErrorTracking PerformanceClosed-Loop ControlJoint PositionSliding Mode ControlRobot ManipulatorAdaptive FilterPacket LossTime-Varying DelaysNetwork DelayUnscented Kalman FilterProcess ModelMechanical EnergyEnergy IndexProcess NoiseSliding Mode Control MethodJoint VelocityPrediction StepAdaptive GenesEnergy AccumulationJoint SpaceFeedback SignalTask SpacePeer Reviewed Journal Article10.1109/TMECH.2022.3156855