Dynamics and distributed vibration controls of flexible manipulators; integrated distributed sensing and active piezoelectric actuator

An integrated distributed vibration actuator design for elastic flexible robot structures is presented. The proposed distributed sensor and actuator is a layer or multilayer of piezoelectric polymer directly attached to the flexible component needed to be monitored and controlled. The integrated piezoelectric sensor/controller can monitor the oscillation as well as actively and directly constrain the undesirable oscillation of the flexible robot arm by direct/converse piezoelectric effects, respectively. An experimental model and a finite-element simulation are studied, and the effectiveness is evaluated