Natural Frequency Analysis of Spring-Manipulator System for Force Generation Utilizing Mechanical Resonance

This paper describes a natural frequency analysis conducted to find out a suitable working area for a spring-manipulator system generating a large vibrating force with mechanical resonance. Large force generation is one of the functions that we hope for a robot. For example, a weeding robot is required to generate a large force, because some weeds have roots spreading deeply and tightly. The spring-manipulator system has a spring element as an end-effector, so it can be in a state of resonance with the elasticity of the spring element and the inertial characteristics of the manipulator. A force generation method utilizing the mechanical resonance has potential to produce a large force that cannot be realized by a static method. A method for calculating a natural frequency of a spring-manipulator system with the generalized inertia tensor is proposed. Then the suitable working area for the spring-manipulator system is identified based on a natural frequency analysis. If a spring-manipulator system operates in the suitable working area, it can sustain mechanical resonance and generate a large vibrating force. Moreover, it is shown that adding a mass at the tip of the manipulator expands the suitable working area.