Control of a six-degree-of-freedom flexible industrial manipulator

A controller design is proposed for manipulators modeled with joint and link compliances. First, nonlinear feedforward and PID state feedback components are used in the controller, and manipulator dynamics are converted into error-driven system dynamic equations. Then, the error-driven dynamic equations are stabilized using the second method of Lyapunov. The special structure of the Lyapunov matrix equation is exploited, and an explicit solution to this equation is presented. The analysis shows that controller performance can be enhanced through the modulation of this solution. The controller was numerically implemented on the model of a six-degree-of-freedom Cincinnati Milacron T3-776: industrial manipulator that is modeled with three joint and four link flexibilities. The simulations show satisfactory path tracking and oscillation rejection properties.<
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