A simple rest-to-rest control command for a flexible link robot

Command shaping is an important method to reduce vibration in flexible link robots. This paper presents a very simple rest-to-rest motion control command which eliminates multiple mode residual vibration in a flexible link robot in finite time. The command is constructed by solving linear equations. The finite time duration in which the desired motion of the joint angle is achieved along with elimination of the residual vibration can be arbitrarily specified, which offers the option for trade-offs among various considerations, The necessary conditions for using the command as a reference input for the joint angle in a closed-loop configuration(using a PD controller) are also discussed.