Design and Experimental Validation of a Novel Hybrid Continuum Robot With Enhanced Dexterity and Manipulability in Confined Space

Ma, Xiaoyi; Wang, Xuchen; Zhang, Zihao; Puchen, Zhu; Cheng, Shing Shin; Au, Kwok Wai Samuel

doi:10.1109/tmech.2023.3276076

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The discrete links with alternating diagonally-aligned joints contribute to the overall arm having high torsional stiffness. Additionally, this design allows for a significant degree of bending at individual links, while maintaining a high load-handling capacity [39,[134][135][136][137][138][139]. Therefore, these types of manipulators are explored for applications beyond the medical field in the realm of continuum manipulators, including aeroengine repair [135], nuclear plant maintenance [136], and aerial manipulators for pick and place operations [39].…”

Section: Cross-universal Jointmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some designs choose to place the joints along the centreline of the backbone, resembling vertebrae [39,116], while others prefer to position them at the periphery or outer surface of a tubular-profiled manipulator design [134,136]. In the latter approach, the tendon guides (eyelets) are fashioned either in the form of welded guide rings radially attached to the joint supports [134,136], or as guide holes (eyelets) created on disks inserted at equal intervals throughout the manipulator. Conversely, the centreline-based joints method features radially extended flange/disk profiles around each joint, providing eyelets for routing the tendons [39,116,137].…”

Section: Cross-universal Jointmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various manufacturing techniques are employed across different research works. Processing tough metals like titanium involves methods such as laser cutting [134] and CNC machining [134]. In the case of tubular designs, the links are manufactured and connected using a rivet pin [134], pin-free pivot-like contacts with compliant twin pivots [135], or pin-free rolling contact joints where all the links are connected through tendons [136].…”

Section: Tubular Profilementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Processing tough metals like titanium involves methods such as laser cutting [134] and CNC machining [134]. In the case of tubular designs, the links are manufactured and connected using a rivet pin [134], pin-free pivot-like contacts with compliant twin pivots [135], or pin-free rolling contact joints where all the links are connected through tendons [136]. There are a few works that have attempted 3D printing of the joint and the structure using polymers as well [144].…”

Section: Tubular Profilementioning

confidence: 99%

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Tendon-Driven Continuum Robots for Aerial Manipulation—A Survey of Fabrication Methods

Uthayasooriyan,

Vanegas,

Jalali

et al. 2024

Drones

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Aerial manipulators have seen a rapid uptake for multiple applications, including inspection tasks and aerial robot–human interaction in building and construction. Whilst single degree of freedom (DoF) and multiple DoF rigid link manipulators (RLMs) have been extensively discussed in the aerial manipulation literature, continuum manipulators (CMs), often referred to as continuum robots (CRs), have not received the same attention. This survey seeks to summarise the existing works on continuum manipulator-based aerial manipulation research and the most prevalent designs of continuous backbone tendon-driven continuum robots (TDCRs) and multi-link backbone TDCRs, thereby providing a structured set of guidelines for fabricating continuum robots for aerial manipulation. With a history spanning over three decades, dominated by medical applications, CRs are now increasingly being used in other domains like industrial machinery and system inspection, also gaining popularity in aerial manipulation. Fuelled by diverse applications and their associated challenges, researchers have proposed a plethora of design solutions, primarily falling within the realms of concentric tube (CT) designs or tendon-driven designs. Leveraging research works published in the past decade, we place emphasis on the preparation of backbones, support structures, tendons, stiffness control, test procedures, and error considerations. We also present our perspectives and recommendations addressing essential design and fabrication aspects of TDCRs in the context of aerial manipulation, and provide valuable guidance for future research and development endeavours in this dynamic field.

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Section: Cross-universal Jointmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cross-universal Jointmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tubular Profilementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tubular Profilementioning

confidence: 99%

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Tendon-Driven Continuum Robots for Aerial Manipulation—A Survey of Fabrication Methods

Uthayasooriyan,

Vanegas,

Jalali

et al. 2024

Drones

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“…Snake robots made from slender structures and multiple-degree of freedom (DoFs) have been widely adopted for use in confined spaces, as their contours can adapt to the spatial characteristics of the environment and deliver specialised end-effectors (e.g. sensors and cutting tools) into the structure [8]. Several varieties of snake robot have been developed for coping with this sort of scenario [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive stiffness regulation on multi-section snake robot with considering the parasite motion and friction effects

Ma,

Zhou,

Yuan

et al. 2023

Bioinspir. Biomim.

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Snake robots have been widely used in challenging environments, such as confined spaces. However, most existing snake robots with large length/diameter ratios have low stiffness, and this limits their accuracy and utility. To remedy this, a novel ‘macro-micro’ structure aided by a new comprehensive stiffness regulation strategy is proposed in this paper. This improves the positional accuracy when operating in deep and confined spaces. Subsequently, a comprehensive strategy for regulating the stiffness of the system is then developed, along with a kinetostatic model for error prediction. The internal friction, variation of cable stiffness as a function of tension, and their effects on the structural stiffness of the snake arm under different configurations have been incorporated into the model to increase the modelling accuracy. Finally, the proposed models were validated experimentally on a physical prototype and control system (error: 4.3% and 2.5% for straight and curved configurations, respectively). The improvement in stiffness due to the adjustment of the tension in the driving cables (i.e. average 183.4%) of the snake arm is shown.

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Accurate trajectory tracking control for AUV under state constraints with a rapid stability dimensionality‐augmented state observer

Wang,

et al. 2024

Intl J Robust & Nonlinear

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A rapid stability dimensionality‐augmented state observer (RSDASO) based event‐driven control strategy is presented for the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) trajectory tracking issue, addressing state constraints, model uncertainty, limited communication resources and unknown external time‐varying disturbances. The first step is to develop a fast stability extended state observer to estimate the lumped disturbances and unmeasurable states of the system and ensure the estimation error converges in fixed time. Secondly, a fixed‐time AUV trajectory tracking control method is proposed to ensure that the tracking error of the system converges within a fixed time, based on the mentioned observer. Simultaneously, to reduce the communication resource usage by the system, an event‐triggered mechanism (ETM) is included in the control law. Lastly, simulation experiments verify the effectiveness of the process.

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Design and Experimental Validation of a Novel Hybrid Continuum Robot With Enhanced Dexterity and Manipulability in Confined Space

Cited by 8 publications

References 19 publications

Tendon-Driven Continuum Robots for Aerial Manipulation—A Survey of Fabrication Methods

Tendon-Driven Continuum Robots for Aerial Manipulation—A Survey of Fabrication Methods

Comprehensive stiffness regulation on multi-section snake robot with considering the parasite motion and friction effects

Accurate trajectory tracking control for AUV under state constraints with a rapid stability dimensionality‐augmented state observer

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