STRESS AND DEFLECTION REDUCTION FOR ROBOTIC ARMS UNDERGOING CONTINUOUS RECONFIUGRATION USING DECENTRALIZED CONTROL

In this paper, a relatively new decentralized control concept known as the Boundary Control Concept (BCC) is applied to reconfigurable structures such as robotic arms, undergoing discrete and continuous changes in configuration. The controller can be set up to minimize stresses, strains, deflections or the amplitude of particular modes via a novel formulation of the LQR control method. Thus, it allows changes to the original configuration (reconfiguration) of the robotic arm in order to meet certain requirements without the need to redesign the controllers of the whole structure.