FORCE CONTROL OF HIGH-SPEED, LIGHTWEIGHT ROBOTIC MANIPULATORS

Force control of a two-link planar manipulator with one flexible link is considered in this study. The equations of motion of the planar manipulator are derived using the extended Hamilton's principle with only structurally flexibility effects included in the dynamic model. A control algorithm for constrained maneuvers (manipulator end-effector is required to exert a specified force on the environment as it moves along a specified path) is presented. The approach to solving the control problem is to use feedforward and feedback control torques. The feedforward torques maneuver the flexible manipulator along a nominal trajectory and the feedback torques (obtained using LQR theory) minimize the deviation from the nominal trajectory. Simulated results are presented for a numerical example.