Nonlinear PDE-model-based control of flexible manipulators by distributed state estimation over an IMU sensor network

The ongoing first wave of mobile machine electrification is taking place by directly replacing hydraulic actuators with electric ones, while maintaining original bulky machine structures that comply with the eye-hand coordination of human operators. However, it is foreseen that to achieve zero carbon footprint and low energy consumption, manufacturers need to replace existing bulky structures with structures made of lightweight high-strength steels. This introduces severe flexibilities to the system, making them unsuitable for conventional human operator control. Thus, the bottleneck hindering the wider adoption of lightweight structures is the unavailability of real-world control theory for multi-link flexible manipulators. Hence, the objective of this project is to develop real-world technology for real-time end-point sensing and control of large-scale flexible robotic systems, by taking advantage of a low-latency IMU sensor network for recovering unknown system states.