Control and simulation of two manipulators handling a flexible payload

The traditional studies about two manipulators handling a flexible payload are mainly focused on configuration analysis and stability. In this paper, the control problem based on observer is studied. With the characteristic of flexible payload, the relations of the vibration states are got from the contact points between the end of manipulators and flexible payload. A new observer is designed based on the available states. In order to make the system easy to control, the model is divided into a slow subsystem and a fast subsystem. The controllers are designed for each subsystem, respectively. The stability of the whole system can be guaranteed with the observer and the control method. The simulation validates the observer and controller.