SPLINE-BASED GUIDANCE WITH ENHANCED FREQUENCY ROBUSTNESS FOR THE MOTION OF FLEXIBLE PART HANDLING MANIPULATORS

A new spline-based method is introduced for guiding the motion of flex ible part handling manipulators. Compared to closed-loop-based control methods, it enables simplicity in the design of the manipulator and t hus reduced cost and complexity. The method can be easily implemented even on existing manipulators, requiring minimal computational cost an d knowledge of the dynamic parameters of the manipulator, and it is qu ite versatile, leading to guidance functions properly adapted to the s pecific manipulator requirements. However, the basic advantage of the method is the extensive robustness characteristics it offers at large payload variations and/or uncertainties of possible non-linearities of the manipulator, overcoming to a significant degree this traditional disadvantage of guidance-based methods over the methods based on close d-loop control. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.