Flexible manipulator systems in specific applications such as space exploration, nuclear waste treatment, medical applications, etc., often have characteristics superior to conventional rigid systems. However, their elasticity and complex dynamics lead difficulties encountered control processes. Research on improving the structure of model plays a very important role reducing above limitations ...

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 bodies, is presented in this paper. First, the Euler Lagrange (EL) equations of motion of the system are written. Then using the equivalence of EL and Newton–Euler (NE) equations, and the DeNOC m...

The non-destructive inspection of large bridges with autonomous systems is still an unsolved problem. One of the main difficulties is to develop a very flexible platform, which is able to move at horizontal and vertical areas and can inspect the surface. For precise inspection of concrete walls it is essential to have a manipulator to perform a 2D scan with adequate sensors. In this paper a cli...

This paper presents hybrid spiral-dynamic bacteria-chemotaxis algorithms for global optimisation and their application to control of a flexible manipulator system. Spiral dynamic algorithm (SDA) has faster convergence speed and good exploitation strategy. However, the incorporation of constant radius and angular displacement in its spiral model causes the exploration strategy to be less effecti...

An iterative learning control method for a single-link flexible manipulator is proposed to achieve precise tracking control and end-point vibration suppression of the system. The learning is done in a feedback configuration with hybrid control and the learning law updates the feedforward input from the error of the previous trial. The dynamic model of the flexible manipulator is derived using t...

BACKGROUND Minimally invasive endoscopic fetal surgery enables intrauterine intervention with reduced risk to the mother and fetus. A novel surgical manipulator is described for stabilizing the fetus and restraining it from floating free during endoscopic intrauterine surgery. METHODS We designed and fabricated a prototype fetus-supporting manipulator equipped with flexible joint and bending ...

In this paper, the new concept of the dynamic singular configuration of flexible manipulators is proposed. When we control flexible manipulators using the inverse dynamics method, we need to consider this dynamic singular configuration of flexible manipulators. Without considering it, the control around the dynamic singular configuration may become unstable. As an example, we derive the dynamic...

This work proposes a novel flexible manipulator consisting of series 2-DOF vertebrae based on ball-and-socket joint that is connected by ball-shaped surface and cup-shaped socket constrained pins for circumferential rotation. can demonstrate outstanding torsional stiffness since the rotation between four ball pins. The point contact guideways effectively reduces friction vertebrae, thus allowin...