Position and force control of flexible manipulator with position sensitive device

This paper presents a position and force control of a flexible manipulator with PSD (position sensitive device). If this method is used, the arm approaches an object exactly, and pushes it by a desired force although the object is unknown. The position control is based on the resonance ratio control. When the reaction torque is estimated by the reaction torque observer, a friction model is used in this observer. However, the friction model differs from the real friction. The response is deteriorated. To improve this issue, the reaction torque is estimated by PSD. This observer does not need the friction model. In the result, the proposed method is better than the conventional method. The force control is a new method. It is based on the resonance ratio and it takes environment into account. The validity of the proposed method is shown by simulations and experiments.