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The reported study investigates the stochastic dynamics of a mobile manipulator. The manipulator is mounted atop a vehicle supported on multiple wheels. Stochastic excitations and deterministic excitation of the manipulator are induced by the acceleration of the vehicle on a traction surface. The stochastic excitations are related by time delays due to the longitudinal alignment of the vehicle wheels. Expressions for the deterministic and covariance matrices of the manipulator stochastic motions are developed. Sensitivity of the system responses to the surface roughness, the dynamics and the kinematics parameters of the manipulator is investigated. Suggestions for mobile manipulator design to minimize the influence of the stochastic base excitations are presented.

The component mode synthesis technique was employed for the dynamic analysis of flexible robot arms with viscoelastic damped members. Computational difficulties are avoided with this technique. The procedure permits the efficient analysis of flexible robot arms with viscoelastic dampd members. The application of free interface mode synthesis can attain a high level of accuracy in the dynamic analysis of flexible robot arms because the stiffness of joints is much smaller compared to that of links.