Abstract: Modeling and vibration of a flexible link manipulator
with tow flexible links and rigid joints are investigated which can
include an arbitrary number of flexible links. Hamilton principle and
finite element approach is proposed to model the dynamics of
flexible manipulators. The links are assumed to be deflection due to
bending. The association between elastic displacements of links is
investigated, took into account the coupling effects of elastic motion
and rigid motion. Flexible links are treated as Euler-Bernoulli beams
and the shear deformation is thus abandoned. The dynamic behavior
due to flexibility of links is well demonstrated through numerical
simulation. The rigid-body motion and elastic deformations are
separated by linearizing the equations of motion around the rigid
body reference path. Simulation results are shown on for both
position and force trajectory tracking tasks in the presence of varying
parameters and unknown dynamics remarkably well. The proposed
method can be used in both dynamic simulation and controller
design.