Cooperative control of large flexible space structure by two planar robots

Abstract

Abstract This study discusses a cooperative control problem of a flexible beam by two planar space robots. The goal is to control the position and orientation of the flexible structure and robots, and to suppress the vibration of the flexible structure. To solve this problem, a boundary controller based on a dynamic model represented by a hybrid PDE‐ODE model is presented. In particular, a boundary controller using the Lyapunov method is derived, and it is showed that the system becomes Lyapunov stable and that the system in the neighbourhood of the desired configuration becomes asymptotically stable. As the system has an actuation redundancy, distribute control inputs among actuators considering each actuator's performance can be distributed. Finally, several numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the validity of the proposed boundary controller.