Position and Force Tracking of a Two-Manipulator System Manipulating a Flexible Beam

This article discusses the issue of hybrid position and force control of a two-manipulator system manipulating a flexible beam in trajectory tracking. Unlike our previous approach of set-point position control in the trajectory tracking, the system coordinates are hard to be regulated to the desired states with nonzero tracking velocities under continuous feedback control. In this study, we design a hybrid position and force tracking controller while using saturation control to compensate for the effect of beam vibration dynamics on the tracking performance. All parameters and states used in the controller are readily available so that the proposed method is feasible to implement. Under the proposed controller, the tracking error asymptotically converges to a predetermined boundary. Simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.