Decentralized vibration control of a multi-link flexible robotic manipulator using smart piezoelectric transducers

The work in this paper is aimed to investigate the use of a decentralized control system for suppressing vibration of a multi-link flexible robotic manipulator using embedded smart piezoelectric transducers. To achieve this, a non-linear dynamic model of a flexible robotic manipulator with smart piezoelectric actuators/sensors, is developed based on the co-rotational finite element method. The method incorporates multiple co-ordinate (co-rotational) systems which rotate and translate with each element, so that the geometric non-linearity present in rotating manipulator system can be dealt with efficiently. The placement of piezoelectric actuators and sensors over the flexible links are considered for the application of decentralized control system. A numerical study shows that the developed co-rotational finite element method can be utilized to investigate the piezoelectric actuator/sensor placement and vibration control performances for a multi-link flexible manipulator undertaking complicated motion.