MODEL-REDUCTION OF FLEXIBLE MANIPULATORS

Flexible manipulators can be characterized by a dynamic model with a l arge number of vibration modes. The use of such a model in model-based control schemes requires reduction of the model order. In this paper, we present a method of reducing the order of a marginally stable syst em based on the fact that translation transformations in the frequency domain preserve the input-output properties of the system. We address the successful application of the method to model reduction of a flex ible manipulator. The method is also applicable for any other marginal ly stable model, such as elastic space trusswork and multidimensional space vehicle structure.