Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Tendon-driven continuum manipulator
Reconfigurable design
Disk rotation
Static modeling
Rotate Disks to Reach Farther: Design and Modeling of a Novel Reconfigurable Tendon Driven Manipulator
🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses the limited deformation capabilities and insufficient modeling accuracy and efficiency of tendon-driven continuum manipulators by proposing a reconfigurable design featuring independently rotating spacer disks. Complex deformations are achieved through re-routed tendon paths, while a potential energy minimization-based static model is developed to integrate disk rotation, discrete tendon routing, and elastic mechanics. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model achieves tip errors as low as 1.2% and 3% under parallel and multi-disk rotated routing configurations, respectively. Furthermore, the computational speed is improved by an order of magnitude compared to traditional Cosserat rod solvers, effectively balancing high precision with real-time performance requirements for advanced robotic applications.
📝 Abstract
Rerouting the tendon path in tendon driven continuum manipulators (TDCMs) enables a broad range of deformation modes. This work presents a Reconfigurable TDCM design which allows independent rotation of intermediate spacer disks, thereby locally rerouting the tendon and achieving non-trivial backbone spatial deformations. Two such designs, (a) Manual Disk Locked (MDL) and (b) Continuous Disk Rotor (CDR) manipulators are presented to achieve disk rotations before and during operation, respectively. A predictive static model based on the piecewise constant strain (PCS) assumption is developed within a potential energy minimization framework, incorporating (a) disk rotations, (b) discrete tendon paths between disk segments, (c) rigid thickness of spacer disks, and (d) elasticity of the tendons. The model is validated against experimental results, demonstrating an average tip error of $1.2\%$ of the manipulator's total length for parallel tendon routing and around $3\%$ for the case when multiple disks are rotated. The computation time is an order of magnitude lower than the state of the art Cosserat rod solver.
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Reconfigurable TDCM
Tendon path rerouting
Piecewise constant strain
Potential energy minimization
Static modeling
🔎 Similar Papers
No similar papers found.
