Simultaneous force-position control for grasping using flexible link manipulators

This paper presents a new singular perturbation approach for analyzing flexibility in manipulators. This approach does not treat the flexible manipulator as a perturbation of the rigid manipulator, and therefore, allows for significant amounts of flexibility (beyond the linear range). Analysis based on this approach leads to some provably stable control laws for the position and force control of flexible-link manipulators. Simulation results are presented for a single constrained flexible manipulator.