Vibration control of multi-link robot manipulators: Part I with rigid linkages

Joint resilience is inherent in all mechanical structures with working joints. In case of multi-link robotic manipulators, joint resilience may cause undesirable oscillations of the end effector. These oscillations may persist for extended durations resulting in long idle periods between performing different tasks. Numerical predictions are presented in this paper to demonstrate the effectiveness of a control technique in quickly attenuating excessive transient oscillations of a two-link arm. The technique is based on actively manipulating the joint resilience. It is effective. It is suitable to be implemented as an add-on controller and it requires minimal hardware. It is a stable control technique due to its being dissipative in nature.