The paper studies the use of flexible robots in tasks that require a contac
t with the environment. Here a flexible robot has the advantage that the en
ergy of the collision will be absorbed by the robot structure instead of by
the environment. First a tip position control method of a single-link flex
ible robot for collision-free trajectories is presented. This method offers
a behaviour of the flexible robot similar to that of a rigid robot under t
he same working conditions. We also make here a comparison among different
force control methods, stating some conditions to their use. Some experimen
tal results are shown that validate the study. The feasibility of the propo
sed force control is based on the good results obtained with the collision
detection mechanism. This mechanism is made possible by the reliability of
the position control method and the detailed analysis made of the reference
signal. This work is presented as a first approach that can be generalised
to the control of more complex arms.