Frequency-tuning input-shaped manifold-based switching control for underactuated space robot equipped with flexible appendages

•Attitude control problem of an underactuated robot with flexible beam is considered.•Dependency of vibration frequency of the beam on link angles is formulated.•Frequency-tuning input-shaped manifold-based switching control is proposed.•Target attitude of the main body and target link angles are simultaneously achieved.•Vibration suppression performance is improved by tuning the delay-time of the shaper.

Underactuated control problems, such as the control of a space robot without actuators on the main body, have been widely investigated. However, few studies have examined attitude control problems of underactuated space robots equipped with a flexible appendage, such as solar panels. In order to suppress vibration in flexible appendages, a zero-vibration input-shaping technique was applied to the link motion of an underactuated planar space robot. However, because the vibrational frequency depends on the link angles, simple input-shaping control methods cannot sufficiently suppress the vibration. In this paper, the dependency of the vibrational frequency on the link angles is measured experimentally, and the time-delay interval of the input shaper is then tuned based on the frequency estimated from the link angles. The proposed control method is referred to as frequency-tuning input-shaped manifold-based switching control (frequency-tuning IS-MBSC). The experimental results reveal that frequency-tuning IS-MBSC is capable of controlling the link angles and the main body attitude to maintain the target angles and that the vibration suppression performance of the proposed frequency-tuning IS-MBSC is better than that of a non-tuning IS-MBSC, which does not take the frequency variation into consideration.