In this thesis the control and stabilization of a two link flexible robotic arm is considered. The first scheme is based on nonlinear inversion, a nonlinear controller is designed for the trajectory control of the joint angles using joint torquers. The inverse controller includes a servocompensator for robustness. A simplified controller has also been designed neglecting the Coriolis and Centrifugal forces; In the second scheme the control system design is based on nonlinear adaptive control and linear stabilization. First a nonlinear adaptive control law is derived such that in the closed-loop system the joint-angles are precisely controlled to track reference trajectories. A linear stabilizer designed based on a linear model of the arm is switched to accomplish the final capture of the desired state; Simulation results are presented for all cases to show that in the closed-loop system accurate joint angle trajectory tracking and elastic mode stabilization can be accomplished inspite of the uncertainity in the payload. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.) ftn*This research was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office under ARO Grant No. DAAL03-87-G-004
