Algorithms for adaptive control of two-arm flexible manipulators under uncertainty

The author uses a nonlinear extension of model reference adaptive control (MRAC) technique to guide a double-arm nonlinearizable robot manipulator with flexible links, driven by actuators collocated with joints subject to uncertain payload and inertia. The objective is to track a given simple nonlinear, rigid but compatible dynamical model in real, possibly stipulated time and within stipulated degree of accuracy of convergence, while avoiding collision of the arms. The objective is attained by a specified signal adaptive feedback controller and by adaptive laws. Both are given in closed form. A case of a two-degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator illustrates the technique