Trajectory control of flexible manipulators on a free-flying space robot

Abstract

A space robot consisting of a satellite main body that flies freely and manipulators that have structural flexibility is considered. The position and orientation of the satellite main body may change when the manipulators move. Motions of the space robots also induce vibrating motions of the structurally flexible manipulators. The control schemes used are the virtual rigid manipulator, pseudo-resolved acceleration control, and composite control. A singular perturbation strategy is applied, and the stability of the controls is examined. Numerical examples are given.< >