Passive Control of a Stiff Flexible Link

Abstract

It is demonstrated in the article that, for an appropriately chosen output variable, the transfer function for a sufficiently rigid single flexible link is passive. As such, by the passivity theorem, using any strictly passive controller with finite gain will result in an L 2 -stable system. One approach to designing such a controller is outlined, and the experimental results are presented. The implications of this work are examined, and future research issues are discussed.