Development of a two-link flexible manipulator

Abstract

Flexible manipulator systems exhibit many advantages than the rigid robot systems. Flexible manipulator systems offered less overall costs, less material, small actuators, light in weight and consume less power than the traditional robot (rigidarm). With the Two-Link Flexible Manipulator (TLFM) systems, various tasks can be done compare to one-link systems. However, this TLFM is rarely used in industry because of the difficulty in controlling the systems. Therefore, this thesis is to develop the mechanical structures of the TLFM and to design the real-time controller for this system so that it can operate smoothly and accurate. The mechanical structures of this two-link flexible manipulator consist of two DC motors, two flexible links, base and couplings. The hardware is interfaced with the computer through the data acquisition card and several analog to digital converter (ADC) and digital to analog converter (DAC). The Real-Time Window Target (RTWT) Toolbox in MATLAB/SIMULINK software is used for controlling the system. The feedback signal from encoder is used for real-time controller development. This flexible manipulator only considered in horizontal plane only.