Position and Force Control of Flexible Robotic Manipulators using the LQG/LTR Design Methodology

Control of a two link planar manipulator with one flexible link executing constrained and unconstrained maneuvers is considered. The dynamic model includes the impact force generated during the transition from an unconstrained to a constrained segment of the robotic task. The linear quadratic Gaussian/loop transfer recovery (LQG/LTR) design methodology is exploited to design a robust feedback control system that can handle modeling errors and sensor noise, and operate on Cartesian space trajectory errors. The LQG/LTR compensator together with a feedforward loop is used to control the flexible manipulator. Simulation results are presented