Structural vibration control by tuned mass damper using central pattern generator

This paper proposes a new control method for active mass dampers using a Central Pattern Generator in vibration mitigation. The active mass dampers (or active dynamic absorbers) have been applied to structural vibration control of high-rise buildings, bridges and so on. In this case, the mass of the active mass damper must oscillate in an appropriate phase in relation to the control object, and generally, the damper has been designed by linear control theory as pole placement method, optimal control method or H infinity control method, and all the rest. On the other hand, on walking of animate beings like mammals or insects, both side feet have appropriate phase relations; moreover, it is possible to keep moving on irregular ground. That is, algorithms for the walking would be embedded into the animate beings to control the complicated and redundant bodies with ease and robustness. In biological study, the Central Pattern Generators in bodies playing a significant role in the walking have been learned over the last few decades, and some studies said that some animate beings are able to control their feet by using the generators without their brains in the walking. Moreover, mathematical models of the pattern generators have been proposed, and some researchers have been studying to realize walking of biped-robots using the pattern generators embedded in a computer. In this study, the algorithm is installed into a controller for the active mass damper; furthermore, validation of the controller is performed by numerical simulation.