Vibration and position tracking control for a flexible Timoshenko robot arm with disturbance rejection mechanism

Purpose This paper aims to study the boundary disturbance rejection control design for a flexible Timoshenko robot arm to diminish external disturbances and achieve desired angle tracking, with system vibration and elastic deformation considered. Design/methodology/approach This study introduces disturbance observer and disturbance rejection mechanism into the boundary control design for flexible Timoshenko robot arm systems. The uniform bounded stability of controlled systems is proved via Lyapunov analysis without any simplification of the infinite-dimensional system dynamics. Findings The proposed boundary disturbance rejection control scheme can effectively suppress vibrations and shear deformations, achieve the required angular positioning and reject external disturbances. Numerical simulations developed by the finite difference method are adapted to demonstrate the validity of the designed controller. Originality/value The originality of this study is to design boundary disturbance rejection control to suppress vibrations and shear deformations for the flexible Timoshenko robot arm, thereby improving the performance and control accuracy of the system.