Abstract
In this paper, a shape tracking control problem for a hyper degrees of freedom manipulator is discussed. The objective of shape tracking is to control its shape, which is characterized by all the link positions, to follow a given time-varying curve. Crucial key to solve this problem is to introduce a 2nd-order estimator that infers the curve parameters corresponding to the target link positions on the curve. The coupled dynamics of the manipulator and this estimator has the same properties as the manipulator dynamics which is useful for control design purposes. Therefore, familiar design methods for manipulator tracking can be utilized to solve the shape tracking problem. The shape tracking control law based on the ID (inverse dynamics)-based method is shown as a exapmle to illustrate how tofind shape tracking laws by using familiar tracking control methods.
