Abstract
Presented in this work are the equations of motion governing the behavior of a simple, highly flexible, prismatic-jointed robotic manipulator performing repetitive maneuvers. The robot is modeled as a uniform cantilever beam that is subject to harmonic axial motions over a single bilateral support. To conveniently and accurately predict motions that lead to unstable behavior, three methods are investigated for determining the boundaries of unstable regions in the parameter space defined by the amplitude and frequency of axial motion. The first method is based on a straightforward application of Floquet theory; the second makes use of the results of a perturbation analysis; and the third employs Bolotin’s infinite determinate method. Results indicate that both perturbation techniques and Bolotin’s method yield acceptably accurate results for only very small amplitudes of axial motion and that a direct application of Floquet theory, while computational expensive, is the most reliable way to ensure that all instability boundaries are correctly represented. These results are particularly relevant to the study of prismatic-jointed robotic devices that experience amplitudes of periodic motion that are a significant percentage of the length of the axially moving member.
