STABILITY OF A MANIPULATOR WITH RESILIENT JOINTS

The study reported here is concerned with the determination of the vibration and stability characteristics of a tool-carrying manipulator. Attention will be confined to manipulators that have rigid links but possess resilience in the joints, where restoring moments are exerted. The manipulator under consideration consists of three articulated links, whose motion is limited to a plane. The initial configuration of the manipulator is arbitrary, and generally not of the straight-line type. The conditions for resonance and stability for the manipulator in question are established.