ABSTRACT
Robots are used for various purposes in large manufacturing companies specialized in distinct fields as well as in small companies. “Flexibility” in connection with industrial robots has two meanings: flexibility in performing tasks, which is desired and elastic flexibility of the links and other substructures. Before starting with considerations of flexible robots, the industrial robots available are briefly described. The main parts of an industrial robot are in the form of a block diagram. These parts are the arm, the actuators, including the gears, the control computer, the gripper, including the gripping device, internal sensors or the position measurement system, and external sensors. The dynamic equations of flexible robots are extremely complex and nonlinear and therefore much more difficult to analyze than in the case of conventional, stiff robots.
