Applied Mathematical Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

www.elsevier.nl/locate/apm

Dynamic modelling of a rigid-exible manipulator for

constrained motion task control
a,1 a,* b
Z.X. Shi , Eric H.K. Fung , Y.C. Li
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
b
Department of Electronic Engineering, Jilin University of Technology, Chang Chun, Jilin, 130025,
People's Republic of China
Received 18 July 1997; received in revised form 5 November 1998; accepted 12 November 1998

Abstract

A mathematical model governing the dynamics of a constrained rigid-exible manipulator moving in a horizontal
plane is derived using Hamilton's principle. A new variable is introduced before the procedure of modal expansion in
order to convert the non-homogeneous boundary condition into a homogeneous one. The static tip deection of the
exible link is allowed in order to maintain the contact force between the end eector and the constrained path and this
tip deection is considered in both the inverse kinematics and the order reduction procedures. The state vector of the
proposed controller consists of joint angle of the rigid link, its derivative and integral, the rst deection mode and its
derivative, and the integral of contact force. A multivariable controller is proposed for the simultaneous motion and
force control of the manipulator. The controller consists of a feedforward term which contributes the torque for the
expected joint angles and the contact force, and a feedback term with the time varying optimal gains obtained from
the Matrix Riccati equation. Computer simulation results show that this proposed controller is capable of performing
the straight line tracking task satisfactorily under four dierent conditions. 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights
reserved.

Keywords: Dynamic modelling; Rigid-exible manipulator; Constrained motion; Trajectory tracking; Multivariable
control

Nomenclature

b, c functions dened in Eq. (3a)

Ci1 , Ci2 , Ci3 , Ci4 constants in Eq. (33)
EI exural rigidity of exible link
f function dened in Eq. (23)
fn reaction force along n
g function dened in Eq. (21)
J1 total moment of inertia of rigid link referred to xed end
J2 moment of inertia of hub at elbow joint

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: (+852) 2766 6647; fax: (+852) 2365 4703; e-mail: mmhkfung@polyu.edu.hk.
1
On leave from Department of Electronic Engineering, Jilin University of Technology, People's Republic of China.

0307-904X/99/$ see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 0 7 - 9 0 4 X ( 9 8 ) 1 0 0 9 6 - 3
510 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

L 1 , L2 lengths of rigid and exible links, respectively

M end mass
qi generalized coordinate
Q axial force along i2
r position of a point on exible link
t time
T total kinetic energy of manipulator
U non-dimensional axial force dened in Eq. (36)
v variable dened in Eq. (21)
V total potential energy of manipulator
w transverse displacement of exible link
wE transverse displacement at tip of exible link
Xp , Y p coordinates of end point of manipulator
Yi mode shape function dened in Eq. (33)
h1 , h2 hub angles for rigid and exible links, respectively
Dh1 , Dh2 joint angle errors for rigid and exible links, respectively
U constrained curve function
k Lagrange multiplier associated with constrained curve
q mass per unit length of exible link
dW virtual work
si torque developed by motor i
xi vibration frequency of exible link
ei , di mode shape parameters in Eq. (33)
eiL , diL non-dimensional mode shape parameters dened in Eqs. (34) and (35),
respectively
Xi non-dimensional vibration frequency of exible link dened in Eq. (37)
ri mode shape coecient dened in Eq. (44)
P position vector of end point of exible link
r position vector of a point on exible link
(i1 , j1 ) a pair of orthogonal unit vectors for rigid link
(i2 , j2 ) a pair of orthogonal unit vectors for exible link
n number of modes of exible link
n normal direction of constrained curve

1. Introduction

In order to use robot manipulators in some manufacturing tasks such as grinding, deburring
and polishing, it is necessary to control both the position and velocity of the end-eector and the
constrained force between the end-eector and the environment [1]. Position and force control of
rigid link manipulators has been extensively studied by many researchers in the past twenty years
[17]. However, the study on the hybrid position/force control of multilink exible manipulators
only started quite recently [820]. This problem has arisen, in particular, in the area of space and
industrial robots with lightweight and exible links [19]. Among them, the measurement of the
link deformations was used for the control of vibrations as well as for the determination of the
contact forces in Ref. [9], and the path and force control for a manipulator with elastic links and
joints was performed by a feedforward and a feedback loop in Ref. [10]. The dynamic modelling
and the force/ motion control of a constrained exible robot arm was studied in Refs. [11,12], in
which the exible link has one additional degree of freedom which allows it to move axially into
 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525 511

the rst rigid member. An adaptive control law in task space was developed via singular per-
turbation approach in Ref. [13]. The inverse force and motion control of constrained three-axis
elastic robots was presented based on non-linear inversion and stabilization in Ref. [14], and the
sliding mode force and motion control and stabilization of elastic manipulator in the presence of
uncertainties were illustrated using the variable structure control theory and linear stabilization
in Ref. [15]. A long range predictive control algorithm was demonstrated for the force and
motion control strategies for a exible manipulator in Ref. [16]. Matsuno et al. in their recent
study [1720] formulated the quasi-static [17] and dynamic [18] hybrid position/force control of a
exible manipulator. In 1994, they extended their work to the rigid-exible structure [19] and
two-link exible manipulator [20]. The dynamic model of a constrained rigid-exible manipu-
lator was derived where the elastic deformations were approximated by B-spline functions [19],
and the modelling and quasi-static hybrid position/force control of constrained two-link exible
manipulators was studied in Ref. [20]. However, the simplied linear relationship between the
strain gauges signals and the contact force in Refs. [9,10] as well as in Refs. [17,20] may not be
sucient enough for the case where an accurate contact force is essential in the space or in-
dustrial applications. The study of this scara type constrained rigid-exible manipulator, i.e. a
planar one with articulated rigid and exible links was not dealt with in Refs. [11,12]. The non-
homogeneous boundary condition, which is a characteristic of the constrained exible manip-
ulator, was not considered in Refs. [1316]. The approximation of the elastic deformations by
means of B-spline functions can avoid the non-homogeneous boundary condition, but its ac-
curacy in modelling this complicated dynamic structure was not thoroughly analyzed in Refs.
[18,19].
In this paper, the dynamic equations governing joint angles and vibration of a constrained
rigid-exible manipulator with torque and contact force as inputs are rst obtained along with the
boundary conditions by means of Hamilton's principle. Assumed mode method is used to ap-
proximate the vibration. Also, because the manipulator is constrained by the two-dimensional
path, it loses one degree of freedom. For computer simulation, a state space model of order 10 is
formed with the following state variables: joint angle 1, its derivative and integral, the rst three
deection modes and their derivatives, and the integral of force. Based on the simplied model, a
multivariable controller is designed for the simultaneous motion and force control along the
desired trajectory. Other than these, the following are the main features of the paper.
(1) A new variable is introduced before the use of the assumed mode method in order to change
the non-homogeneous boundary condition into a homogeneous one. This idea was initially
proposed in Matsuno's paper [17] for the case of single exible link moving along a one-di-
mensional horizontal axis, and the axial force is assumed to be zero. In this paper, the expressions
and derivations are much more complicated when compared to those in Ref. [17] because of the
two-link structure.
(2) The non-zero static deection of the exible link is allowed in order to exert the constrained
force at the tip. It is mainly due to the introduction of the new variable in (1) which expresses the
tip deection as a summation of two terms: one results from the modal expansion and the other
depends on the Lagrange multiplier and the joint positions.
(3) The constrained force is considered in the calculation of the inverse kinematics, that is, both
the tip coordinate and the constrained force must be satised in the calculation of the expected
joint angles.
(4) Due to the motion constraint imposed by the two-dimensional path function, the manip-
ulator loses one degree of freedom. Here, the exact dynamic model is used in the process of
eliminating one degree of freedom whereas in Refs. [13] and [1720], only the rigid model was
used to reduce the degree of freedom, which we think is not accurate enough. In this paper, the
512 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

joint angle 2 is expressed in terms of not only the joint angle 1 but also the exible deection and
the constrained force.
(5) Only one exible mode is considered in the optimal controller design, in which the higher
modes were regarded as the uncertainties. The multivariable controller consists of two parts: a
feedforward term which is the computed torque based on the static dynamic model and a feed-
back term which is obtained via the Matrix Riccati equation. The optimal gains are updated at
each cycle. The performance of the controller is evaluated by computer simulations for the four
cases: (a) designed condition with triangular velocity prole, (b) designed condition with trape-
zoidal velocity prole, (c) o-designed condition with inertia over-estimated by 20%, and (d)
designed condition considering the measurement noise in the force signal.

2. Dynamic modelling

2.1. Governing equations

We consider a rigid-exible manipulator which is rotated by two motors in a horizontal plane

as shown in Fig. 1. Let OXY be the inertial Cartesian axes and (Xp ,Yp ) be the coordinates of the
end point of the exible link.
Xp L1 cos h1 L2 cosh1 h2 wE sinh1 h2 ; 1a

Yp L1 sin h1 L2 sinh1 h2 wE cosh1 h2 : 1b

Since the end point (Xp ,Yp ) is constrained to move along the curve UX ; Y 0, we have
UXp ; Yp 0: 2a

Fig. 1. Constrained rigid-exible manipulator.

 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525 513

Substituting Eqs. (1a) and (1b) into Eq. (2a), we obtain

Uh1 ; h2 ; wE UL1 cos h1 L2 cosh1 h2 wE sinh1 h2 ; L1 sin h1
L2 sinh1 h2 wE cosh1 h2 0: 2b
In Fig. 1, two pairs of orthogonal unit vectors (i1 , j1 ) and (i2 , j2 ), which are xed at the vertical
shafts of motor 1 and 2, respectively, are shown. They are given by

i1 cos h1 ; sin h1 T ; i2 cosh1 h2 ; sinh1 h2 T ;

j1 sin h1 ; cos h1 T ; j2 sinh1 h2 ; cosh1 h2 T :

An EulerBernoulli beam is used to model the exible link where the rotary-inertia and shear-
deformation eects are neglected. Also, we assume that the elastic deformation wt; r is small.
Because the end point of the manipulator is constrained, a reaction force fn is generated along the
normal direction of the constrained curve. The relationship between the constrained force fn , the
axial force Q and k are given by
2  3
oU 
  bh ; h ; w
oX Xp ;Yp 7
1 2 E
bh1 ; h2 ; wE 6
6  7
fn n k where 6 7; 3a
ch1 ; h2 ; wE 4 oU  5
ch1 ; h2 ; wE
oY Xp ;Yp

Q fn iT2 n kbh1 ; h2 ; wE cosh1 h2 ch1 ; h2 ; wE sinh1 h2 : 3b

Let P be the position vector of the end point of the exible link, and r be the position vector of the
exible link at a general position r. The position vectors and their derivatives are given by
P L1 i1 L2 i2 wE j2 ; 4a

P_ L1 h_ 1 j1 wE h_ 1 h_ 2 i2 fL2 h_ 1 h_ 2 w_ E gj2 4b

r L1 i1 ri2 wt; rj2 ; 5a

r_ L1 h_ 1 j1 rh_ 1 h_ 2 j2 wt; rh_ 1 h_ 2 i2 wt;

_ rj2 ; 5b
where a dot denotes the time derivative. Now, the total kinetic energy T and the total potential
energy V of the manipulator are
ZL2
1 2 1 1 T 1
T J1 h_ 1 J2 h_ 1 h_ 2 2 M P_ P_ q_rT r_ dr; 6
2 2 2 2
0

ZL2 ZL2
1 2 1
V 00
EIw t; r dr Qtw0 t; r2 dr; 7
2 2
0 0

where a prime denotes the derivative with respect to the spatial variable. The virtual work is given
by
X
2
dW si dhi : 8
i1
514 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

The governing equations of the mechanical system are derived by the extended Hamilton's
principle, which can be written as
Zt2
dT dV dW kdU dt  0: 9
t1

According to Hamilton's principle, the coecients of dh1 , dh2 , dwE , dwt; r, dw0E are zero. Ignoring
_ r, the following governing equations are obtained.
the higher order terms of wt; r and wt;
Equation of joint angle 1
2 0 1 3
ZL2
4J1 M2 qL2 L2 sin2 h2 @M2 wE q wt; r drAL1 sin h2 5h1
1
0
20 1 3
ZL2
4@M2 wE q wt; r drAL1 sin h2 5h2
0
 
1 2
M2 qL2 L1 L2 h_ 1 h_ 2 2 sin h2 M2 qL2 L21 h_ 1 sin h2 cos h2
2
 
o/ o/ o/ 000
s1 k s2 k L1 cos h2 k EIw t; 0 : 10
oh1 oh2 owE
Equation of joint angle 2
2 0 1 3
ZL2 ZL2
4J2 @M2 wE q wt; r drAL1 sin h2 M2 w2 q w2 t; r dr5h1
E
0 0
2 3
ZL2
4J2 M2 w2E q w2 t; r dr5h2
0
0 1 2 3
ZL2 ZL2
2
@M2 wE q wt; r drAL1 h_ 1 cos h2 4M2 L2 wE q rwt; r dr5h_ 1 h_ 2 2
0 0
o/ o/
L2 k EIL2 w000 t; 0 QtwE EIw00 t; 0 s2 k : 11
owE oh2
Equation of exible variables:
EI 0000 Qt 00
_ r
wt; w t; r w t; r wt; rh_ 1 h_ 2 2
q q
2
r h2 L1 
h1  h1 cos h2 L1 h_ sin h2 : 1 12
When r L2 , Eq. (12) becomes
EI 0000 Qt 000 2
w_ E wE wE wE h_ 1 h_ 2 2 L2 h1 h2 L1 h1 cos h2 L1 h_ 1 sin h2 : 13
q q
Equating the coecient of dw0E to zero, we have
EIw00E 0: 14
 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525 515

Equating the coecient of dwE to zero, we have

T oU
M2 P_ j2 EIw000 0
E QwE k QtwE EIw00 t; 0: 15
owE
Using Eq. (4b) and Eq. (15) becomes
oU 2
M2 w_ E EIw000 0
E QwE k M2 L1 cos h2 L2 h1 L2 h2 L1 h_ 1 sin h2 wE h_ 1 h_ 2 2 :
owE
16
From Eqs. (13), (14) and (16), we obtain the force equilibrium equation at the constrained end
M2 oU
EIw000 0
E QwE EIw0000
E k: 17
q owE
From Eq. (14), the boundary condition at the constrained end is
w00E 0: 18
At the clamped end of the exible beam, the boundary conditions require the displacement and
the slope to be zero, that is:
wt; 0 0; 19

w0 t; 0 0: 20
The vibration of the exible link is thus given by the governing equation (Eq. (12)), and the four
boundary conditions (Eqs. (17)(20)).

2.2. Introduction of new variable and modal expansion

Since the boundary condition given by Eq. (17) is non-homogeneous, it is dicult to treat it
directly. This non-homogeneous boundary condition is therefore transformed into a homoge-
neous one by dening a new variable v(t) such that
vt; r wt; r gtf r; 21
where
oU
gt k ; 22
owE
 
1 L 2 5 3 1 4 1 5
f r r r r r : 23
EI 2 6 2L 10L2
Substituting Eq. (21) into Eqs. (17)(20), the boundary conditions become
vt; 0 0; 24

v0 t; 0 0; 25

v00 t; L2 0; 26
 
M 0000
EI v vE Qv0E 0;
000
27
q E
where vE vt; L2 .
516 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

Substituting Eq. (21) into Eq. (12) gives the following equation of motion.
EI 0000 Q EI Q
v_ v t; r v00 t; r gtf _ r gtf 0000 r gtf 00 r
q q q q
2
vt; rh_ 1 h_ 2 2 gtf rh_ 1 h_ 2 2 rh1 h2 L1 h1 cos h2 L1 h_ 1 sin h2 : 28a
The terms on the right-hand side of Eq. (28a) are excitation terms that can be ignored in the cal-
culation of modal vibration frequencies. The equation of motion of the simplied system becomes
EIv0000 qv_ Qv00 0: 28b
The method of assumed mode is applied, and the variable vt; r is expressed as
X
1
vt; r Yi rqi t Y
qf : 29
i1
Hence,
EIYi0000 QYi00 q_
i: 30
qYi qi
Assuming harmonic vibration, equation for the generalized coordinates is
q_ i x2i qi : 31
Using Eqs. (30) and (31), the following equation for the mode shape function can be obtained:
EIYi0000 QYi00
x2i
qYi
or
EIYi0000 QYi00 qYi x2i 0: 32
The solution of Eq. (32) may be written as
Yi r Ci1 cosh ei r Ci2 sinh ei r Ci3 cos di r Ci4 sin di r; 33
where
s
r
U U2
eiL ei L2 X2i ; 34
2 4
s
r
U U2
diL di L2 X2i ; 35
2 4
QL22
U ; 36
EI
xi L22
Xi p eiL diL 37
EI=q
and Ci1 , Ci2 , Ci3 and Ci4 are four constants to be determined from the following boundary
conditions which are derived from Eqs. (24)(27) and (29).
Yi 0 0; 38

Yi0 0 0; 39
 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525 517

Yi00 0 0; 40
M
EIYi000 L2 QYi0 L2 EIYi0000 L2 0: 41
q
From Eq. (38),
Ci1 Ci3 : 42
From Eq. (39),
ei Ci2 di Ci4 : 43
From Eq. (40), and introducing the mode shape coecient ri , we have
Ci2 e2i cosh ei L2 d2i cos di L2
ri : 44
Ci1 e2i sinh ei L2 ei di sin di L2
From Eq. (41),
   
Ci2
M
q
EI e4i cosh ei L2 d4i cos di L2 EI e3i sinh ei L2 d3i sin di L2 Qei sinh ei L2 di sin di L2
M  4   
Ci1 q
EI ei sinh ei L2 ei d3i sin di L2 EI e3i cosh ei L2 ei d2i cos di L2 Qei cosh ei L2 ei cos di L2
45

Based on Eqs. (21)(28a), (28b)(30), and the orthogonal characteristics of Eqs. (38)(41), the
governing equations of joint angles h1 and h2 are changed into the following form:
Mr11 
h1 Mr12  h2 Nr11 h_ 1 Nr12 h_ 1 h_ 2 Gr1 qf Ur1 k s1 s2 Br1 s;
h1 
46
Mr21 
h1 Mr22  h2 Nr21 h_ 1 Nr22 h_ 1 h_ 2 Gr2 qf Ur2 k s2 Br2 s
h1 
where:

Mr11 J1 M2 qL2 L21 sin2 h2 ; Mr22 J2 ;

8 2 3 9
<X n   ZL2
000
Yi 0 4 5 oU =
Mr12 EI qfi M2 f L2 q f r dr k L1 sin h2 ; Mr21 Mr12 ;
: i1 w2i owE ;
0
 
_ L2
2
Nr11 M2 qL2 L1 sin h2 cos h2 h1 ; Nr12 M2 q L1 L2 sin h2 h_ 1 h_ 2 ;
2
8 2 3 9
<X n   ZL2
000
Y 0 oU =
Nr21 EI i 2 qfi 4 M2 f L2 q f r dr5 k L1 cos h2 h_ 1 ;
: i1 wi owE ;
0
8 2 3 9
<X n  00
 ZL2 =
EIYi 0 QYi L2 4 M2 L2 f L2 q r
f r dr5 oU k h_ 1 h_ 2 ;
Nr22 q fi
: i1 w2i owE ;
0
 
oU oU oU
Ur1 6L1 cos h2 ;
oh1 oh2 owE
oU oU
Ur2 2L2 Qf L2 ;
oh2 owE
Gr1 EIL1 cos h2 Y1000 0 Y2000 0


Yn000 0;
Gr2 EIY100 0 QY1 L2 EIY200 0 QY2 L2


EIYn00 0 QYn L2 ;
518 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

Br1 1 1; Br2 0 1;
T
s s1 s2 :
The governing equation of the exible beam is:

Mf1 
h1 Mf2 
h1  qf Nf1 h_ 1 Nf2 h_ 1 h_ 2 Gff qf 0;
h2 Mff  47
where
 
EI 000 Yi L2
Mf 1 i Y 0 L1 cos h2 ;
qw2i i qw2i f L2
1 Yi L2 L2
Mf 2 i 2 EIYi00 0 QYi L2 2 ;
qwi qwi f L2
8
>
> Yi L2 Yj L2
>
< i 6 j;
qw2i f L2
Mff i; j
>
> Is Yi2 L2
>
: i j;
q qw2i f L2
 
EI 000 Yi L2
Nf 1 i 2 Yi 0 2 L1 sin h2 h_ 1 ;
qwi qwi f L2
(   n )
X n
M2 Yi L2 X
Nf 2 i Mff i; jhfj Yi L2 2 Yj L2 hfj h_ 1 h_ 2 ;
j1
q qwi f L2 j1
8
>
> Yi L2 Yj L2
>
< qf L ; i 6 j;
2
Gff i; j
> Is wi Yi2 L2
>
2
>
: ; i j:
q qf L2

3. Multivariable control design

Since the tip of the rigid-exible manipulator is constrained, the number of degree of freedom
of the system is reduced from n 2 to n 1. In this paper, the joint angle h2 is expressed in terms
of joint angle h1 , the exible variable and the constrained force. That is:

h2 Xh1 ; qf ; k; h_ 1 h_ 2 A1 h_ 1 ; h1 h2 A1 h1 A2 h_ 1 : 48

Then the governing equation of the whole system can be written as
" # " # " #

h 1 h_1 h1
M0 N0 G0 B0 s; 49
q_ f q_ f qf

where:
 
Mr11 A1 Mr12 Ur2 Mr21 A1 Mr22 Ur1 0
M0 ;
Mf 1 A1 Mf 2 Mff
 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525 519

 
00
Mr12 A2 Nr11 A1 Nr12 Ur2 Mr22 A2 Nr21 A1 Nr22 Ur1 0
N ;
Nf 1 A1 Nf 2 A2 Mf 2 0
   
0
0 Gr1 Ur2 Gr2 Ur1 0
Br1 Ur2 Br2 Ur1
G ; B
0 Gff 0
and the expression of the Lagrange multiplier can be written as
  " #  
s1 h_ 1 h1
k Bk Nk Gk ; 50
s2 q_ f qf

Br1 Mr21 A1 Mr22 Br2 Mr11 A1 Mr12

Bk
Ur1 Mr21 A1 Mr22 Ur2 Mr11 A1 M12
2 3
Mr21 A1 Mr22 Mr12 A2 Nr11 A1 Nr12
6 U M A M U M A M 7
6 r1 r21 1 r22 r2 r11 1 r12 7
Nk 6 07;
4 Mr11 A1 Mr12 Mr22 A2 Nr21 A1 Nr22 5

Ur1 Mr21 A1 Mr22 Ur2 Mr11 A1 Mr12
 
Gr1 Mr21 A1 Mr22 Gr2 Mr11 A1 Mr12
Gk 0 :
Ur1 Mr21 A1 Mr22 Ur2 Mr11 A1 Mr12
Multiplying both sides of Eq. (49) by the inverse of M0 gives
" # " # " #  

h1 _ h1 s1
00 h1 00
N G B00 : 51
q_ f q_ f qf s2
R R
Combining Eqs. (50) and (51) and choosing h1 qf h_ 1 q_ f h1 k as state variables and h1 qf k as
output variables, we obtain the nal state matrix equation.

Fig. 2. Velocity prole.

520 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

Fig. 3. Joint angle errors.

_ AX
X  X BXs;
 52
where
2 3 2 3
h1 0 0 1 0 0 0
6 7 6 7
6 qf 7 6 0 0 0 I 0 07
6 7 6 00 7
6 h_ 7 6G G00rf N00rr N00rf 0 07
6
 6 1 7  6 rr 7  0 0 B00 B00 0 Bk :
T
X 7; AX 6 00 7; BX r f
6 q_ f 7 6 Gfr G00ff N00fr N00ff 0 07
6R 7 6 7
6 h 7 6 1 0 0 0 0 07
4R 15 4 5
k 0 Gk Nkr Nkf 0 0
Using the state matrix equation, we can calculate h1 and k for changes in s. From the constrained
equation, h2 can be found.
 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525 521

Fig. 4. Tip deection.

The proposed multivariable controller for the simultaneous trajectory tracking and force
regulation of the constrained rigid-exible manipulator consists of two parts: the feedforward
controller generates an output torque calculated on the basis of the dynamic model with the
exible variables omitted. The feedback controller is designed with the optimal gains K calculated
from the following Matrix Riccati equation.

AT P PA PBR1 BT P Q 0 53
and

K R1 BP: 54
Controller output
s s0 Ds; 55
 and DX
where s0 is the feedforward torque, and the feedback torque Ds KDX  X
 X
d:
522 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

Fig. 5. Contact force.

4. Simulation results

In this paper, we have tried two dierent velocity proles as shown in Fig. 2, with the same
duration and the distance of travel. The constrained curve UX ; Y X Y 0:6 0, with the
starting point at (0.6,0) is chosen as the desired trajectory. Time taken is 3 s. The time step for the
computer simulation is 1 ms. The desired contact force is 7.07N. Four cases were studied, namely,
(a) designed condition with triangular velocity prole, (b) designed condition with trapezoidal
velocity prole, (c) o-designed condition with inertia over-estimated by 20%, and (d) designed
condition considering the measurement noise in the force signal, which is assumed to have a
magnitude of 10% of the output force value. Simulation results are presented in Figs. 36. Fig. 3
shows the errors in the two joint angles Dh1 and Dh2 . Fig. 4 shows the tip deection. Fig. 5 shows
the contact force and Fig. 6 shows the tracking errors.
It is obvious from Figs. 36 that the results obtained for trapezoidal velocity prole (case (b))
are better when compared with those for triangular prole (case (a)). This is understandable since
the change in acceleration for (b) is smaller for the same time duration and the moving distance.
 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525 523

Fig. 6. Tracking error.

In the present study, the controller design is based on the lowest reduced-order model consisting
of the rst exible mode and the simulation is performed on a three-mode dynamic model. The
control output excites the unmodelled or residual modes which is called the control spillover, and
the plant output is contaminated by the residual modes, which is called observation spillover.
Results show that the control and observation spillovers due to the residual modes do not cause
any adverse eects on the stability of the whole system using the proposed controller. Cases (c)
and (d), give results for a variation of inertia and noisy force measurements using the velocity
prole in (a) respectively, which indicates the degree of robustness of this multivariable controller.
In Fig. 3, the maximum joint angle error Dh1 is 0.015 rad in (a), and 0.012 rad in (b). It in-
creases to 0.023 rad when the moments of inertia are over-estimated by 20% (case (c)), and re-
mains the same when considering the measurement noise in the force signal (case (d)). The
maximum joint angle error Dh2 is 0.004 rad in (a) and (b). It increases to 0.008 rad in (c), and
also remains the same in (d). In Fig. 4, it is noticed that the initial tip deection is 0.0045 m for
cases (a)(d) so that the tip manipulator can exert the required contact force on the constrained
surface. The maximum peak to peak vibration for cases (a)(c) is about 0.2 mm, and comparing
524 Z.X. Shi et al. / Appl. Math. Modelling 23 (1999) 509525

(c) with (a), the over-estimation of the moment of inertia does not have any signicant adverse
eects on the tip deection wE . But from (a) and (b) we can see the eect of the acceleration
change on wE . In Fig. 5, the eect of the acceleration change on the contact force is well illustrated
in (a)(d). The desired contact force is 7.07 N, and the values found from simulation vary from
5.6 N to 7.1 N. The eect of the over-estimation of the moment of inertia on the force regulation
is not signicant when comparing (c) with (a). From (d), we notice that the simulated contact
force does not vary much with the noise introduced in the force signal, which demonstrates the
robustness of the proposed controller.
In general, it is assumed by most of the researchers [820] that the tip of the exible link will
always make contact with the constrained path, but few of them have ever tested this assumption
in the simulation study. Here, we divide the tip error in Cartesian space into two components: one
perpendicular to the path (ev ) and the other parallel to the path (eh ). Results of these two tip errors
are illustrated in Fig. 6, which shows that the tip never departs away from the path thus validating
the above assumption. At the same time, the error eh is always negative for cases (a), (b) and (d),
which means that the simulated tip position is always lagging behind its desired value along the
trajectory, and the maximum error is about 4 mm for these three cases. In case (c), the error is
negative rst, and becomes positive when approaching the end position. This is mainly caused by
the over-estimation of the moment of inertia in the controller design.

5. Conclusion

In this paper, an exact dynamic model of a constrained rigid-exible manipulator moving in a

horizontal plane is derived. A new variable is introduced before the procedure of modal ex-
pansion in order to convert the non-homogeneous boundary case into a homogeneous one. The
static tip deection of the exible beam is allowed in order to maintain the contact force be-
tween the end eector and the constrained two-dimensional path. A multivariable controller is
studied for the simultaneous position and force control of the manipulator. Computer simu-
lation of the straight-line tracking with two velocity proles is carried out, and the performance
of the controller is studied for the cases of over-estimated inertia, and noisy force signal.
Simulation results show that the proposed controller performs satisfactorily in trajectory
tracking and force regulation task.

Acknowledgements

This research work was supported by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Research Grant
Committee under project account code 0351.101.A3.430 (G-SI45). Partial support for Ms. Z.X.
Shi was also provided by the National Science Foundation of China. The authors wish to thank
the referees for their useful comments.

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