Mechatronical designed control of fire-rescue turntable-ladders as flexible link robots

Abstract Turntable ladders with a maximum ladder length of up to 30 m can be assumed as 3-axes flexible link robots. For operation at maximum velocity which is an important factor for turntable ladders as fire rescue vehicles, and to realize an automated teach-in operation mode, a trajectory tracking control based on a decentralized control approach has been developed by a mechatronical design. The implementation guarantees active oscillation damping of all ladder movements. The recently presented active control system will be in future a standard equipment for the new generation of fire turntable ladders of the cooperation partner IVECO Magirus company.