What does feedforward mean?

The part of a command worked out from a model of the system and the reference alone, before any error has appeared, such as the command known to give the wanted speed. Feedback then only has to correct what the model got wrong.

Also written as: feed-forward

In a lesson

The feedforward term is the model running in reverse: you want the robot to move at v_ref, and U2 says the command for that is 100 * v_ref / 20. Send it. Now the feedback term has nothing left to do except correct the parts the model got wrong, and the steady error drops from v / K to (model error) / K.

Learn it

• Taught in U10.5 Feedforward and feedback Following a trajectory, University

Used in

• U10.6 How far behind
• U12.4 Policy search on a robot

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