Techniques of Vibration And End-Point Trajectory Control of Flexible Manipulator

This paper presents investigations into the development of
control schemes for end-point vibration suppression and input
trajectory of a flexible manipulator. A constrained planar single-
link flexible manipulator is considered and the dynamic model of
the system is derived using the assumed mode method. To study
the effectiveness of the controllers, initially a Linear Quadratic
Regulator (LQR) is developed for control of rigid body motion.
This is then extended to incorporate a non-collocated PID
controller and a feedforward controller based on input shaping
techniques for control of vibration (flexible motion) of the
system. For feedforward controller, the positive input shapers are
proposed and designed based on the properties of the system.
Simulation results of the response of the manipulator with the
controllers are presented in time and frequency domains. The
performances of the control schemes are assessed in terms of
level of vibration reduction, input tracking capability and time
response specifications. Finally, a comparative assessment of the
control techniques is presented and discussed.