Model order reduction for contact dynamics simulations of manipulator systems

Dynamic simulation of manipulators doing contact tasks with stiff and complex contact interfaces is time consuming because very small integration step sizes have to be used for numerical stability. Existing model order reduction techniques cannot be readily applied due to high nonlinear nature of contact dynamics. A new method of model order reduction is proposed to deal with this problem. The method identifies the "stiffness" and "damping" terms by linearizing the contact force model and add them to those of the manipulator. Then the existing modal analysis and truncation technology is applied. An example is presented to demonstrate the significant gain in computational efficiency and unproved output results.