Interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based experimental control of a single-link flexible robot arm

Energy-based control design methodology (the so-called IDA-PBC, interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based control) is a well established technique that has shown to be very powerful to design robust controllers for physical systems described by Euler-Lagrange equations of motion. Their application potential is particularly important for under-actuated systems. This paper presents the application of this control design methodology to a single-link flexible robotic arm. It is shown that the method is well suited to handle this kind of under-actuated devices not only from a theoretical viewpoint but also in practice. A Lyapunov analysis of the closed-loop system stability is given and the design performance is illustrated by means of a set of simulations and laboratory control experiments, comparing the results with those obtained using conventional control schemes for mechanical manipulators