Abstract

An adaptive trajectory-tracking controller is developed for a single flexible-link manipulator with presence of friction in the joint and parametric uncertainties. The distributed-parameter dynamic modeling approach is used to design the controller. To eliminate large steady-state tracking error, an adaptive friction compensation technique is proposed based on general static friction model. Reduction of effects of data corruption by noise is obtained using a filtering technique. The global asymptotic stability is guaranteed using the Lyapunov stability theorem. The position tracking performance and link vibration attenuation is verified through experimental results. It also shows that the steady-state joint error is significantly eliminated and the noise effect in the control signal is efficiently reduced.

Key words: Flexible robotic arm, adaptive control, friction compensation, distributed parameter, dual observer.