Collision control of a single-link flexible arm

Damage avoidance of flexible manipulators, in collision phenomenon with unlooked-for obstacles is a significant problem in industry and space programs. This paper presents a method of control for minimizing damage and/or undesirable vibration of a single-link flexible arm due to collision using a collision detection function based on an innovation process of a Kalman filter constructed for a system without the collision input term. The controller is constructed for rotating the arm to the desired position in normal operations and interrupting its motion when the collision is detected.