The control problem for flexible-multilink robots carrying large payloads is revisited. A set of nonlinear approximate equations describing the payload-dominated dynamics of the flexible plant is used in conjunction with the passivity property satisfied by a suitably defined modified input-output pair for the system, to derive a globally asymptotically stable controller together with its adaptive counterpart. Experimental results involving a specially designed 3-degree-of-freeom planar arm with two flexible links, demonstrate their ability to combine end-point tracking with simultaneous active suppression of the vibrations.
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