Initial experiments with a flexible robot

Abstract

A flexible three-degree-of-freedom robot is described, and its behavior is compared with a simple model of a vibrating system. The robot has three rotary joints and two flexible steel links, causing it to exhibit many complicated modes of vibration. A nondimensional analysis of the model showing how it responds to ramp commands and acceleration commands is presented, and the results are compared with those for the actual robot. Using the model, one can select input commands that minimize the vibration of the robot.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>