W hile we welcome a discussion on the merits and demerits of possible funding systems, we fundamentally disagree with Avin’s comments. His letter is entitled “Why we still need grant peer review”, but it does not actually make a case for grant peer review. It merely criticizes our proposal in the abstract. Avin is mistaken about a number of points: 1 Of course an ideal funding system must be as...

A methodology for the formulation of dynamic equations of motion of a serial flexible-link manipulator using the decoupled natural orthogonal complement (DeNOC) matrices, introduced elsewhere for rigid links, is presented in this paper. First, the Euler Lagrange (EL) equations of motion of the system at hand are written. Then, using the DeNOC matrices associated with the velocity constraints of...

We propose a new model for robot manipulators with rigid links and flexible joints. Our model is expressed in Cartesian dependent coordinates which represent the positions, orientations and velocities of the links and the rotors, as opposed to independent generalized coordinates in which classical “Lagrangian” models are defined. The model consists of a set of dynamics equations and holonomic c...

We propose an allocation rule that takes into account the importance of players and their links and characterizes it for a fixed network. Unlike previous rules, our characterization does not require component additivity. Next, we extend it to flexible networks à la Jackson (2005). Finally, we provide a comparison with other fixed (network Myerson and Position value) and flexible network (player...

A computationally efficient recursive algorithm to model flexible manipulators is described in this paper. The dynamic effects, including gyroscopic terms, of the motors at the joints are fully taken into account. Symbolic simplification is used in a newly developed package (FLEXROB), whose performance in detailed reproduction of the dynamic effects due to the interplay between the motors and t...

The control problem for flexible-multilink robots carrying large payloads is revisited. A set of nonlinear approximate equations describing the payload-dominated dynamics of the flexible plant is used in conjunction with the passivity property satisfied by a suitably defined modified input]output pair for the system, to derive a globally asymptotically stable controller together with its adapti...

This paper presents an investigation into the dynamic modelling and characterisation of a two-link flexible robot manipulator incorporating a payload. A planar two-link flexible manipulator incorporating structural damping, hub inertia and payload that moves in the horizontal plane is considered. A dynamic model of the system is developed using a combined Euler-Lagrange and assumed mode methods...

In this paper, we tackle the problem of nonlinear adaptive hybrid control of constrained robots with flexible links. According t o the physical properties of a flexible manipulator, a two time-scale approach, namely, singular perturbation a p proach, is further utilized for thorough analysis and general controller design. It is shown tha t asymptotic motional tracking can be effectively achieve...