Experimental Signal Analysis of Robot Impacts in a Fractional Calculus Perspective

This paper presents a study of the signals captured during impacts and vibrations of a mechanical manipulator. In order to acquire and study the signals an experimental setup is implemented. The system acquires data from the sensors, in real time, and processes it through an off-line analysis package. The study is developed based on a set of signal processing tools, such as the Fast Fourier Transform and the windowed Fourier transform. The signals whose Fourier spectrum presents a non integer behavior are pointed out and analyzed using several time windows. The experimental results provide useful information that can assist in the design of a control system to deal with the unwanted effects of vibrations.