Damping Control of a Large Flexible Manipulator through Inertial Forces of a Small Manipulator

Damping control is applied to a detailed computer model of a long-reach flexible manipulator test bed. The test bed consists of a long slender link with a dextrous manipulator mounted at its tip. The movement of the dextrous manipulator is controlled to create inertial damping forces on the long link. Parameter identification and sequential loop-closure are used to design a controller that feeds back relative tip position and velocity of the long link to control the azimuth angle of the dextrous manipulator. The controller is designed to be robust to varying manipulator loading conditions and reliable under sensor failures.