Adaptive control of flexible-link manipulators with piezoelectric ceramic sensors and actuators

Abstract

Active control of flexible multi-body systems and structures through utilization of smart materials is considered in this paper. Specifically, utilization of piezoceramics for sensing and actuation is investigated. Experimental setups have been developed at CRRL to study modeling issues and control design approaches for flexible structures with embedded (or surface-mounted) piezoceramics. In this paper, experimental results on vibration suppression for a flexible manipulator with surface mounted piezoceramics are presented. It will be shown that piezoceramics substantially improve the performance of the systems under consideration. The advocated approaches for control designs are decentralized frequency shaping and self-tuning adaptive controllers. The self-tuning controller is based on identification of the system dynamics in frequency domain utilizing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Addition of a self-tuning regulator enhances the performance and the robustness of the controlled system to parameter variations.