Design of long reach manipulator for controlling base disturbance

Abstract

Long reach manipulators (lrm) find terrestrial and space applications involving remotely controlled tasks. lrm is a serial-chain, rigid or flexible, robotic arm that deploys the end-effector at task locations to perform precise motions. the structure and dynamics of lrm induce disturbances on its mounting base in the form vibrations. such disturbances impair the precise function of end-effector, and creates base attitude changes that may lead to disastrous collisions. this brings great rigor in the design of lrm. solutions are explored by researchers in the domains like modelling and control, smart materials, active and passive damping, and nonlinear analysis. methods involving balancing arm arrangement or eddy current (ec) damping arrangement are not much studied. also, the effect of the mass of the balancing arrangement is not investigated. newlinehence this research work is based on the following broader objectives: 1. idealize and analyse a model of manipulator system with a balancing arm arrangement with variable mass. newline2. idealize and analyse an ec damping model. two planar models are developed and analysed for ground conditions. the first model consists of a two-link rigid manipulator, balanced by a single link. a hydraulic arrangement dynamically varies the mass of the balancing link. the governing equations are derived using newton-euler formulation and expressed as simultaneous constraint matrices. an integrated model is developed and analysed using simulink®. the second model has a single rigid link, mounted on a flexible base, and it carries conducting coils and an oscillating magnet to induce eddy currents. system equations are developed using euler-lagrange formulation, linearized, and expressed as matrix equations. matlab® ode solver is used to numerically simulate the model, with and without dampin newline newline