This paper deals with the problem of controlling the interactions of flexible manipulators with their environment. For executing a force control task, a manipulator with intrinsic (mechanical) compliance has some advantages over the rigid manipulators commonly employed in position control tasks. In particular, stability margins of the force control loop are increased, and robustness to uncertai...

In the aim of improving safety and efficiency of robotic manipulators, links with reduced bulkiness and weight can be integrated to the robot. As a result, the manipulator becomes more flexible and might encounter vibration issues that have to be well controlled. Such flexible manipulators are said to be underactuated since they potentially have an infinite number of degrees of freedom (dof) an...