Dynamic control of a manipulator with passive joints in an operational coordinate space

A method for controlling the tip position of a manipulator with passive joints, which have no actuators, in an operational coordinate space is presented. The equations of motion are described in terms of operational coordinates. The coordinates are separated into controlled coordinates and compensating coordinates. The accelerations of the controlled coordinates can be arbitrarily adjusted by using dynamic coupling of the manipulator. The effectiveness of the method is verified by experiments using a two-degree-of-freedom manipulator with a passive joint. The experiments show that the controlled coordinates of the position of the manipulator can be controlled precisely by means of the proposed method