A Synergistic Optimal Design for Trajectory Tracking of Underactuated Manipulators

An integrated and general methodology is required to define an ideal relation between input controls and structural parameters of a system in trajectory tracking problems. For underactuated manipulators, a synergistic optimal design should be able to reduce elastic deformations, mass of the structure, and actuation forces. The key advantage of such integrated approach is the capability to search in a feasible design space, to account for many dynamic couplings in an early design stage, and to avoid simplifying assumptions which would induce to suboptimal design. Particularly, some advances considering underactuated manipulators are the possibility to treat nonminimum phase systems, then lighter structures could be selected, since bounded and smoother solution can be generated. A synergistic consideration, in order to find the desired requirements and realize the specified task through an optimal control problem, is in evidence, where a generalization of an inverse dynamics problem is defined. A planar underactuated manipulator is considered for the methodology application.