LQR Robust Control of a Flexible Link Robot Manipulator

This paper presents investigations into the development of linear quadratic regulator (LQR) robust control of a flexible link manipulator. The dynamic model of the system is developed using a finite element methods (FEM). The problems of a flexible link manipulator are uncertainties and parametric nonlinearities. Previous researches have fathom around control methods for the system, few presented the effect of uncertainties and parametric nonlinearities. Simulation is performed to assess the dynamic model and system responses at the hub and end-point responses of links. For the control of the system, LQR is developed for solving flexible link robustness and achieve high-precision position input tracking capability. The results achieved by the proposed controller are compared with conventional PID, to substantiate and verify the advantages of the proposed scheme and its promising potential in control of a flexible link manipulator. It is shown that faster settling time and smaller overshoot response and tracking performance of the proposed controller than PID controllers.