Marcel Bergerman Christopher Lee Yangsheng Xu CMU-RI-TR-95-16

Underactuated manipulators are a class of robotic mechanisms where passive joints are present. By controlling only the motion of the active joints, it is possible to control the entire system. Our goal is to develop control schemes using both classical nonlinear and modern learning techniques for underactuated manipulators. To examine the validity of the approaches, we developed an experimental setup known as U-ARM, or UnderActuated Robot Manipulator. In this report, we present the hardware development, dynamic parameters derivation, control software and experimental results of real-time control of U-ARM. 1 Introduction In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the study of underactuated manipulators. These are mechanisms where not all joints are equipped with control actuators. Joints bearing actuators are called active joints, and the remaining ones are called passive joints. For control purposes, all joints are equipped with position sensors. The passive joints are ..