A hybrid control strategy for vibration damping and precise tip-positioning of a single-link flexible manipulator

In this work, we propose a new control approach for a single-link flexible manipulator, based on the integral resonant control (IRC) scheme. A hybrid control scheme consisting of two nested loops by treating the joint angle and the torque measured at the base of the arm (coupling torque) as the system outputs are formulated. It is shown that the IRC scheme, a high performance controller design methodology for flexible structures with collocated actuator-sensor pairs, can be implemented in a flexible manipulator to achieve precise end-point positioning with effective vibration suppression. Experimental results are presented in order to validate the proposed control scheme. Finally, a brief discussion is included to highlight the contributions of this work in broad area of controlling single-link flexible manipulators.