Experimental verification of control algorithms for a one link geared robot

In this paper, a simple one degree of freedom robot, designed for both research and teaching purposes, is described. The experimental set-up consists of a DC-motor, rate generator, harmonic drive, control system and load. A system has an open architecture and allows the programmer to distribute the intelligence between the single board computer (SBC) and PC compatible computer, which are connected through an interface. The SBC collects data from different sensors. System software resides on SBC and PC compatible computer. A PD controller has been designed and successfully implemented. Different new adaptive control algorithms, which require only link position measurements, were developed and tested, both on SUN workstation and on the experimental set-up