Command filtering and path planning for remote manipulation of a long reach flexible robot

We focus on the fusion of autonomous and teleoperated commands. This combination provides full use of the robot´s workspace without requiring large motion amplification between a master and slave robot. Combining autonomous and teleoperated commands provides the potential for large variations in the commanded momentum of the flexible robot. These variations excite the lightly damped, low resonant frequencies associated with these manipulators. Two techniques are proposed to reduce the vibration during sudden stops in the commanded motion of a flexible manipulator. First a new command filtering approach that permits shorter delay times than standard input shaping methods is presented. Next, we propose dynamic alteration of the desired trajectory. Our investigation shows that filtering techniques exhibit an oscillatory response, more so than standard PD control algorithms, during hard stopping conditions. However the shorter time delay filtering algorithm has less vibration than standard input shaping techniques. Furthermore, any vibration may be eliminated by commanding the robot to decelerate instead of immediately stopping the motion