The equipment purchased under this research equipment grant will enable more extensive research into 1) real-time digital control system with vision subsystem, 2) two-link flexible robot arm and, 3) Stewart Platform uses in milling and grinding. These studies are motivated by three concerns: 1) The inability to control commercial robot arms with modern algorithms without extensive rewiring for computer interfacing; 2) The failure of many industrial systems (e.g. construction crane, tank gun barrel) to satisfy assumptions common in the control literature; 3) The position inaccuracy and low force-to-weight ratio of commercial arms rendering them unsuitable for some machining applications. The results of this effort are expected to impact on 1)digital control systems design and implementation; 2) industrial machining applications of parallel link manipulators and 3) The extension of nonlinear control theory to previously intractable systems.*** //
