Korayem, M. H.; Haghighi, R.; Nikoobin, A.; Alamdari, A.; Korayem, A. H. Determining maximum load carrying capacity of flexible link manipulators. (English) Zbl 1180.93073 Sci. Iran., Trans. B, Mech. Eng. 16, No. 5, 440-450 (2009). Summary: An algorithm is proposed to improve the Maximum Load Carrying Capacity (MLCC) of flexible robot manipulators. The maximum allowable load which can be achieved by a flexible manipulator along a given trajectory is limited by the joints’ actuator capacity and the end effector accuracy constraint. In an open-loop approach, the end effector deviation from the predefined path is significant and the accuracy constraint restrains the maximum payload before actuators go into saturation mode. By using a controller, the accuracy of tracking will improve. The actuator constraint is not a major concern and, therefore, the full power of the actuators, which leads to an increase in the Maximum Load Carrying Capacity, can be used. In this case, the controller can play an important role in improving the maximum payload, so a robust controller is designed. However, the control strategy requires measurement of the elastic variables’ velocity, which is not conveniently measurable. So, a nonlinear observer is designed to estimate these variables. A stability analysis of the proposed controller and state observer is performed on the basis of the Lyapunov direct method. In order to verify the effectiveness of the presented method, simulation is done for a two link flexible manipulator. The obtained maximum payload for open and closed-loop cases is compared, and the superiority of the method is illustrated. Cited in 1 Document MSC: 93C85 Automated systems (robots, etc.) in control theory 93B40 Computational methods in systems theory (MSC2010) 93D05 Lyapunov and other classical stabilities (Lagrange, Poisson, \(L^p, l^p\), etc.) in control theory 93B35 Sensitivity (robustness) Keywords:maximum load; boundary layer sliding mode; nonlinear state observer; flexible robot manipulators; accuracy of tracking; robust controller; stability analysis; Lyapunov’s direct method PDFBibTeX XMLCite \textit{M. H. Korayem} et al., Sci. Iran., Trans. B, Mech. Eng. 16, No. 5, 440--450 (2009; Zbl 1180.93073)