A New Control Algorithm for Robot with Joint Flexibility

This paper considers a new control algorithm for robot with elastic joints. The proposed algorithm requires only position signals measurements. This algorithm is an extension of the control algorithm proposed by Loria and Ortega in [10]. We have assumed that model in [10] has in addition dynamic friction components on both link and motor sides. We have incorporated harmonic drives into our system. We have developed for the proposed model of manipulator an adaptive version of the control algorithm based on Lyapunov stability theory. This algorithm ensures that the tracking error posses desirable convergence property: semiglobal convergence to an arbitrarily small neighbourhood of zero in the presence of bounded disturbance.