Task Space Division and Trajectory Planning for a Flexible Macro-Micro Manipulator System

This paper deals with a flexible macro-micro manipulator system, which includes a long flexible manipulator and a relatively short rigid manipulator attached to the tip of the macro manipulator. A flexible macro manipulator possesses the advantages of wide operating range, high speed, and low energy consumption, but the disadvantage of a low tracking precision. The macro-micro manipulator system improves tracking performance by compensating for the endpoint tracking error while maintaining the advantages of the flexible macro manipulator. A trajectory planning scheme was built utilizing the task space division method. The division point is chosen to optimize the error compensation and energy consumption for the whole system. Then movements of the macro-micro manipulator can be determined using separate inverse kinematic models. Simulation results for a planar 4-DOF macro-micro manipulator system are presented to show the effectiveness of the control system.