Vibration Suppression Control for an Articulated Robot: Effects of Model-Based Control Applied to a Waist Axis

This paper deals with a control technique of eliminating the transient vibration of a waist axis of an articulated robot. This technique is based on a model-based control in order to establish the damping effect on the mechanical part. The control model is related to the velocity control loop, and it is composed of reduced-order electrical and mechanical parts. Using this model, the velocity of the load is estimated, which is converted to the motor shaft. The difference between the estimated load speed and the motor speed is calculated dynamically, and it is added to the velocity command to suppress the transient vibration of a waist axis of the robot arm. The function of this technique is to increase the cut-off frequency of the system and the damping ratio at the driven machine part. This control model is easily obtained from design or experimental data and its algorithm can be easily installed in a DSP. This control technique is applied to a waist axis of an articulated robot composed of a harmonic drive gear reducer and a robot arm with 5 degrees of freedom. Simulations and experiments show satisfactory control results to reduce the transient vibration at the end-effector.