Lumped-parameter modeling of flexible manipulator dynamics

In this paper, we discuss the modeling of flexible manipulators. In the modeling of flexible manipulators, there are two approaches: one is based on the distributed-parameter modeling and the other on the lumped-parameter modeling. The former has been applied to control and analysis of simple manipulator requiring precision, while the latter has been applied to multi-link spatial manipulator, because of the model's simplicity. We have already proposed the lumped-parameter modeling method for simple manipulator, and investigate that model of how much degree of precision we can get. The experiments and simulations are performed, comparing these results, the approximate performance of our modeling method is discussed.