Single Link Flexible Manipulator System

The system is composed of a flexible link (stainless steel) connected with a motor shaft at one end when the other end is free to rotate. In addition to the motor, there are a number of transducers connected with the system to monitor the rotational and vibration behavior of the system. These are: shaft encoder- to obtain the hub angle; tachometer- to obtain the hub velocity; strain gauge- to observe the vibration behavior around the root; and accelerometer-to observe the vibration behavior around the end point.

The system is connected to a PC through an input/output interfacing card while using LabVIEW as software, developed by National Instruments. A GUI has been developed using LabVIEW to send the appropriate input signal to the system and collect various sensor data as well as their visualization. The GUI can be posted on the web as a dynamic page and a user can change the nature of input while observing the system behavior.