Collocated and non-collocated feedback control of flexible manipulator systems

This paper presents an investigation into the development of a closed-loop control strategy for flexible manipulator systems. A constrained planar single-link flexible manipulator system is considered. A state-space model of the system is developed by linearizing the dynamic equations of motion of the system. A finite difference simulation environment characterizing the behaviour of the manipulator with hub inertia and payload mass is utilized as a test and verification platform. A control strategy incorporating both collocated (hub angle and hub velocity) and non-collocated (end-point acceleration) feedback is proposed and implemented within the single-link flexible manipulator environment. Finally, simulation results, verifying the performance of the developed control strategy, are presented and discussed.