SCEFMAS: An Environment for Dynamic Characterisation and Control of Flexible Robot Manipulators*

This paper presents the development of an interactive and user-friendly environment for simulation and control of flexible manipulator systems. A constrained planer single-link flexible manipulator is considered. A simulation algorithm characterising the dynamic behaviour of the manipulator is developed using finite difference methods. Several open-loop and closed-loop control strategies are developed and incorporated into the environment. The environment is implemented using MATLAB and SIMULINK. Several case studies, demonstrating the utilisation and potential of the environment are presented and discussed. The environment provides a valuable computer-aided educational and research facility for understanding the behaviour of flexible manipulator systems and development of various controller designs.