Method and system of generating a feasible smooth reference trajectory for an actuator

A system comprising:

• an actuator comprising a motor and a motor driver, wherein the actuator has a maximum velocity and a maximum acceleration associated therewith;
• a first controller configured to output a first reference trajectory signal comprising temporally-spaced reference positions;
• a second controller configured to generate controls for the motor driver based on a smooth reference trajectory signal;
• a trajectory preprocessor communicatively coupled to the first controller and the second controller, wherein the trajectory preprocessor comprises:
• a first processing block configured to receive samples of the first reference trajectory signal outputted by the first controller and enforce the maximum velocity on the samples of the first reference trajectory signal to obtain a second reference trajectory signal;
• a second processing block configured to generate a delayed trajectory comprising an array of delayed signals sampled from the second reference trajectory signal;
• a third processing block configured to generate a trajectory template having at least a third derivative continuity and at least one characteristic constrained by the maximum velocity and the maximum acceleration;
• and
• a fourth processing block configured to generate the smooth reference trajectory signal based on the delayed trajectory and the trajectory template.