A unified approach to robust control of flexible mechanical systems

This paper addresses a unified control design method for robust control problems of various flexible mechanical systems such as a robotic manipulator with flexible joints and/or base, a crane system, and a liquid container system. First a generic problem setting is introduced, which accommodates those control problems in a uniform manner. Then a control design technique, which is based on the generic problem setting and utilizes PD control and H_infin control schemes, is presented. Using an illustrative example, some detailed discussions on the proposed approach are given and control simulations are performed, which provide perspectives in employing our approach and show that it is useful and widely available.