Abstract: An analytical investigation is presented into active residual vibration control of flexible redundant manipulators. The smart links are fabricated from the flexible links to which are attached piezoelectric actuators and strain gage sensors. The state-space expression of the stochastic dynamic system is developed firstly. With resort to the minimum principle, a LQG state feedback controller is obtained. In addition, a continuous Kalman filter is designed based on the optimal estimation theory. Finally, a planar 3R flexible redundant manipulator is utilized as an illustration example. Simulation results prove the validity and efficiency of this active vibration control strategy.

Key words: Active control, Flexible redundant manipulators, Residual vibration, Stochastic optimal control