High-Performance Positioning using Decoupling Controllers for Flexible Two-Link Robots with Strain Wave Gears

The objective of our research is to develop a high-performance position control system for flexible industrial robots. Compared to traditional industrial manipulators with rigid links and joints, flexible robots are often more difficult to control because of the mechanical vibrations caused by the low-stiffness mechanisms and coupling torques between links. This paper proposes a decoupling control design based on a 2-Degree-of-Freedom (2-DoF) control framework for flexible two-link robots with lightweight links and strain wave gears. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through experiments with a prototype.