Adaptive algorithm for force/position control of flexible joint manipulators with holonomic constraints

The authors present an adaptive force/position control strategy for flexible joint robot manipulators subject to holonomic constraints. Convergence and stability results are guaranteed regardless of the joint flexibility value, in the non-adaptive as well as in the adaptive case. The joint flexibility matrix can be incorporated into the parameter vector of the adaptive controller. When the system physical parameters are unknown, an additional assumption is needed, i.e., the constraints are assumed to be linear