Robustness and Disturbance Rejection of PD/H-∞ Integrated Controller for Flexible Link Manipulator System

Due to the significant advantages of flexible link manipulators (FLMs) and the high demand for developing a robust controller in order to perform fast and accurate operations, this research proposes the PD/H- integrated controller for the purpose of position tracking and vibration suppression of a FLM system and verifies its robustness by utilizing longer lengths and test the proposed controller under a disturbance. The PD/H- integrated controller was compared with the Linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller in terms of position tracking and vibration suppression for the lengths of 50 cm, 75 cm and 100 cm, then the controllers were assessed under a disturbance for the three lengths of the FLM system. The PD/H- integrated controller has shown higher capability to control longer lengths and to reject a disturbance than the LQR controller which has been verified via simulation using MATLAB/Simulink software.