Dynamic Analysis of Planar Cooperative Manipulators With Link Flexibility*

Abstract

With the Timoshenko beam theory and the Finite Element Method, the dynamic equation of planar cooperative manipulators with link flexibility is proposed in absolute coordinates. Taking the actual position of the mass center of the cooperated object as the boundary condition, the inverse dynamic equation is developed with the load distribution method. With the solution of the inverse dynamic equations, the cooperated object can track a given trajectory accurately and the errors between the actual internal forces and the specified internal forces on the cooperated manipulators converge to zero. A new method is also developed for the optimum load distribution and load capacity of cooperative manipulator system. A numerical simulation of two planar flexible robot arms manipulating a rigid load is presented.