This thesis addresses the problem of simultaneous control of vibration and static shape deformation of arbitrary-shaped thin-walled flexible payloads, which are manipulated by robots. This problem, motivated by robotic assembly tasks involving sheet metal parts, is both theoretically and practically challenging, and one in which the solution will enhance a number of fields. When a payload is thin-walled and has sufficiently large dimensions, its structural flexibility creates problems in ensuring mating surfaces and contact points are properly aligned for successful assembly using robots. The misalignment is caused by quasi-steady disturbances such as gravity, which allow the payload’s static shape to deform under its own weight, and transient disturbances caused by robot motion that induce vibration.

In this thesis, a so-called “smart” gripper is proposed to solve the flexible payload control problem. This gripper is fixed to a robotic manipulator and is comprised of multiple DC motor-powered linearly actuating fingers and laser proximity sensors, signal processing and controllers to enable active control of flexible payloads. The proposed smart gripper is capable of actively reshaping the grasped payloads and damping out any vibration. For vibration and static shape control design and practical implementation purposes, a new reduced-order modeling methodology is developed using the component mode synthesis method and the two time-scale modeling technique. A simultaneous vibration and static shape controller is developed as a composite modal controller connected to a quasi-static modal filter and a separate-bias Kalman filter. Experimental demonstrations, carried out using a proof-of-concept smart gripper on an automotive quarter panel, successfully damped out vibration and corrected static shape deformations simultaneously.