Active control of flexible robot arms using the concept of intelligent structures

A two-level control scheme is presented for lightweight, flexible robot arms; the first based on rigid body motion and the other for suppressing structural vibrations. The gross motion is controlled through a combined feedforward and feedback action. The compensator for elastic vibrations is designed using the concept of intelligent structures. The algorithm is based on independent modal space control (IMSC) leading to the design of decoupled modal controllers from which actual compensating inputs are synthesized. The procedure is illustrated by a two-link flexible manipulator. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and its scope for an interactive evaluation of system performance.<>