I.5 - Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Integrated Structure/Control Design of High Speed Flexible Robot Arm

Abstract

There are growing demands in the robot industry for light structures in order to increase the speed of the robot motion and thus the productivity. As a slender structure gets lighter, it tends to be flexible, leading to vibration during operation. Large efforts are done to model, control, and design such robots. This chapter focuses on an integrated structure/control design methodology of high-speed flexible robot arm. It is briefly investigated theoretically as well as experimentally to bridge the gap between theoretical and experimental works. A new mathematical model is developed which takes into consideration the effect of air damping. The arm shape, which affects the inertia, flexibility, and damping, is optimized to minimize the optimal traveling time. The optimal traveling time is obtained through application of time optimal control theory. Constraints on settling time and end point deflection are also considered in the chapter.