A simple active damping control for compliant base manipulators

When a robotic manipulator is mounted to a crane, boom or mobile platform, it loses its accuracy and speed due to the compliance of the base. This pap er presents a simple robust control strategy that will reduce mechanical vi brations and enable better tip positioning. The control algorithm will use the sensory feedback of the base oscillation to modulate the manipulator ac tuator input to induce the inertial damping forces. Previous work by the au thor has demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed concept using linear analysis. This work extends to a more general case of a nonlinear multiple link manipulator using acceleration feedback and one sample delayed torque. A simulation and an experimental study show very promising results for a t est bed consisting of a two-link manipulator and a compliant base.