A New Approach for Solving the Inverse Kinematics of Continuum Robot Based on Piecewise Constant Curvature Model

The inverse kinematics of continuum robot is an important factor to guarantee the motion accuracy. How to construct a concise inverse kinematics model is very essential for the motion control of continuum robot. In this paper, a new method for solving the inverse kinematics of continuum robot is proposed based on the geometric and numerical method. Assumed that the deformation of the continuum robot is Piecewise Constant Curvature model (PCC), the envelope surface of the continuum robot based on single-segment is modeled and calculated. The clustering method is used to calculate the intersection of the curves. Then, a distinct sequence is designed for solving the inverse kinematics of continuum robot, and it is also suitable for the multi-segment continuum robots in space. Finally, the accuracy of the inverse kinematics algorithm is verified by the simulation and numerical experiment. The experiment results illustrate that this algorithm is with higher accuracy compared with the Jacobian iterative algorithm.

Coupled Dynamic Modeling and Control of Aerial Continuum Manipulation Systems

Aerial continuum manipulation systems (ACMSs) were newly introduced by integrating a continuum robot (CR) into an aerial vehicle to address a few issues of conventional aerial manipulation systems such as safety, dexterity, flexibility and compatibility with objects. Despite the earlier work on decoupled dynamic modeling of ACMSs, their coupled dynamic modeling still remains intact. Nonlinearity and complexity of CR modeling make it difficult to design a coupled ACMS model suitable for practical applications. This paper presents a coupled dynamic modeling for ACMSs based on the Euler–Lagrange formulation to deal with CR and the aerial vehicle as a unified system. For this purpose, a general vertical take-off and landing vehicle equipped with a tendon-driven continuum arm is considered to increase the dexterity and compliance of interactions with the environment. The presented model is independent of the motor’s configuration and tilt angles and can be applied to model any under/fully actuated ACMS. The modeling approach is complemented with a Lyapunov-wise stable adaptive sliding mode control technique to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method for such a complex system. Simulation results in free flight motion scenarios are reported to verify the effectiveness of the proposed modeling and control techniques.

Design and Analysis of Flexible Continuum Robot Based on Origami and Mortise-Tenon Structure (FCRBOM)

The continuum robot is a soft robot with infinite degrees of freedom. Origami has a high capacity for spatial deployment. This paper proposes a flexible continuum robot based on origami and mortise-tenon structure (FCRBOM). The robot consists of some flexible hinges based on origami and mortise-tenon structure (FHBOM). The design process of the FCRBOM is given. The compliance of the FCRBOM is analyzed by the compliance matrix method. The Finite element analysis (FEA) is used to simulate and analyze the FCRBOM, and the correctness of the theoretical analysis is verified. Then a spatial FCRBOM (SFCRBOM) is designed. The impact of key dimensional parameters on the flexibility of SFCRBOM is discussed. Finally, an SFCRBOM with higher flexibility is presented.