Active damping of a large flexible manipulator with a short-reach robot

This paper deals with manipulator systems comprising a long-reach flexible manipulator (LRM) with a short-reach dextrous manipulator (SRM) attached to its end. The problem addressed is that of active damping, or vibration suppression, of the LRM by using SRM. The proposed solution uses the reaction force from SRM to LRM as a control variable and hence, it involves determining the motion of a rigid manipulator required to transmit a prescribed force to the supporting flexible arm. Performance of the active damping algorithm is illustrated with a 6-DOF rigid manipulator on a flexible mast