{
  "abstract": "IntroductionUnderwater manipulators performing precision operations are simultaneously affected by nonlinear hydrodynamic uncertainties and abrupt changes in environmental contact conditions, making it difficult for conventional fixed-parameter impedance control to maintain both trajectory-tracking accuracy and compliant interaction. To address this problem, this paper proposes an adaptive impedance control framework for underwater manipulators.MethodsA multi-degree-of-freedom dynamic model is first established by explicitly considering rigid-body dynamics, added-mass effects, nonlinear hydrodynamic damping, and lumped uncertainties. The lumped disturbance is then decomposed according to its functional dependence into a state-dependent unmodeled hydrodynamic component and a residual exogenous disturbance component. An RBF neural network is employed to approximate the state-dependent nonlinear component, while a nonlinear extended state observer estimates the remaining online disturbance, thereby forming a composite feedforward compensation mechanism. On this basis, a prescribed-performance-based adaptive impedance law is developed to regulate the virtual stiffness and damping according to the tracking and contact-force errors while constraining transient performance. Lyapunov analysis establishes the uniform ultimate boundedness of the resulting closed-loop signals. A MATLAB/Simulink–ROS/Gazebo co-simulation platform is constructed to evaluate the proposed controller under time-varying current disturbances and abrupt contact-stiffness transitions.ResultsRepeated simulation trials under multiple disturbance conditions are conducted to evaluate the statistical robustness of the performance indices. Compared with traditional fixed-parameter impedance control, the proposed method reduces the end-effector trajectory RMSE by 82.1%, the peak contact force by 57.9%, and the force-settling time by 49.4%.DiscussionThese results demonstrate improved disturbance rejection and compliant interaction within the tested operating conditions, validating the effectiveness of the proposed architecture without requiring prior knowledge of environmental stiffness.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "hanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xingchen Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Gaosheng Luo"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/15agnjjy19emb.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fmars.2026.1927166",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2026.1927166/full",
  "id": "15agnjjy19emb",
  "issns": [
    "2296-7745"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1927166",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "Q"
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    [
      "lcc",
      "QH1-199.5"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2212|Underwater Vehicles and Communication Systems"
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  "openalex": "W7224087855",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2026.1927166/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media S.A.",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/15agnjjy19emb.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T14:22:06Z",
      "native_id": "38f278b077004c3fa377ac3573ba124b",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1927166"
    }
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "lcc:QH1-199.5",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A novel adaptive impedance control algorithm for underwater manipulators",
  "title_text": "A novel adaptive impedance control algorithm for underwater manipulators",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T14:22:06Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/15agnjjy19emb",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Marine Science",
  "versions": []
}