Feedforward control of flexible manipulators

A method to control the tip position of single-link flexible manipulators is presented. The method is based on the dynamic model inversion technique. The feedforward controller obtained as a result of this inversion drives the arm along a commanded trajectory without any oscillation of the tip. The model inversion of a single-link flexible arm is studied from a discrete point of view. A feedforward controller is developed even in the case when the system is non-minimum phase. The method is general in the sense that it removes oscillations in the arm with any number of vibration modes. This technique results in less residual vibration, has better robustness to system parameter uncertainty, and requires less computation than the existing methods of vibration control.<>