Simulation of adaptive controller for flexible joint manipulators during constrained motion task execution

An adaptive control scheme for flexible joint manipulators constrained by contact with the environment is presented. Based on a singular perturbation model of constrained manipulators, an estimate of the range of mu in which stability is guaranteed is given. Simulation results for a two-link flexible joint manipulator demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm. The proposed method has the following attractive features. First, fundamental passivity properties of rigid robot dynamics are used to design the adaptive controller for flexible joint manipulators. Second, the implementation of the full controller requires only joint and link position and velocity information. Robustness to parametric uncertainty is achieved without the need for acceleration and jerk measurements. Finally, this control algorithm is uncomplicated for practical applications.<>