DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A FACILITY FOR FREE – FLOATING FLEXIBLE ROBOTIC MANIPULATORS

Abstract

The development of the Waterloo Flexible Link Experimental (WATFLEX) facility was initiated at the University of Waterloo to provide resources for conducting experiments involving the dynamics and control of flexible robotic manipulators – specifically, two dimensional dynamic mass capture, impact dynamics and vibration suppression. The system consists of a number of different subsystems including the robotic manipulator, motion and deflection sensors, the digital controller, the data acquisition system, and the pneumatic system that floats the manipulator on a support structure. In this paper, the design and current status of each of these subsystems is described. Experimental analysis results of the support table, the data acquisition system, and some analog sensors are presented and analyzed.