Dynamic control for two-link flexible manipulator.

Abstract

In the near future, many robots will be used in space for extravehicular tasks. Most of these robots will be structurally flxible reflecting the necessity for their light weight. In this paper, dynamic control for a two-link flexible SCARA manipulator, handling a large mass payload, has been studied. For real-time compensation, a simple dynamic model was derived using the static deflection model, to derive the system dynamics equations of a flexible manipulator. To investigate the effectiveness of this model, dynamic analysis was done by simulation and experiments. A two-link flexible SCARA manipulator system was constructed. This manipulator was 1.5 m long and was floating on a plate base using air bearings, handling a 100 kg payload. Its results showed that the model accurately reproduced the state of main deflection. Next, a dynamic control was done using this experimental setup. Its results using this model were compared to results using a rigid model, and the validity of the developed model was demonstrated.