Observer based control of flexible link manipulator using discrete sliding modes

The flexible modes present in flexible link manipulators (FLM) cause vibrations which limit the performance of FLM and the major control challenge lies in suppressing these vibrations. This paper presents the control of single link flexible manipulator using discrete sliding modes (DSM). Discrete sliding mode observer (DSMO) is designed for the estimation of states where the output estimation error becomes zero in finite time. The discrete sliding mode control (DSMC) is synthesized using adaptive reaching law. DSMC with DSMO is used for positioning the tip of FLM. The method is validated in simulations.