Feedback Control of a Flexible Cylindrical Manipulator

Flexible robotic manipulators have been the subject of numerous studies in the past few years. Past studies, however, have concentrated on flexible manipulators with only revolute joints. This paper considers the case of a structurally flexible manipulator with prismatic and revolute joints; specifically, an algorithm for controlling a structurally flexible three-degree-of-freedom cylindrical manipulator is presented. The control algorithm involves two steps. Using nonlinear feedback, the equations of motion are first decoupled into three subsystems representing the three rigid degrees of freedom together with their associated \u27flexible equations\u27, if any. Then, using linear optimal control theory, controllers are designed for the three subsystems independently. Computer simulated results for an example system are presented