Noncolocated μ-Tip Trajectory Tracking of Redundantly-Actuated Flexible Robotic Manipulators

This paper presents a robust passivity-based payload trajectory tracking control method for redundantly-actuated flexible robotic manipulators. The proposed approach is based on μ-tip control, which involves the use of a modified system output to ensure a passive input-output mapping. This work distinguishes itself from prior implementations of μ-tip control with flexible manipulators by demonstrating the generality with which redundant actuation can be accounted for. In particular, it is shown that prior load-sharing-parameter-based approaches are a special case of a more general kinematic constraint that is to be enforced to ensure passivity. Numerical results with an overactuated cable-driven parallel robot demonstrate the performance of the proposed μ-tip control method.