Novel claw-type continuum robots: design, modeling, and control

Abstract

This study addresses the challenges of tendon-driven continuum robots in terms of high-performance joint design, high-accuracy and -efficiency mechanical modeling, and inverse kinetostatic-based control. First, a general design framework for rigid–flexible coupled continuum robots is proposed inspired by the Freedom and Constraint Topology theory. Based on this framework, a novel claw-type continuum robot with high torsion resistance, high-precision positioning, and excellent anti-buckling performance is developed. Consequently, a novel kinetostatic model named the separated beam equilibrium model (SBEM) is proposed by solving the equilibrium equations for each unit individually rather than recursively, which achieves high modeling accuracy and efficiency. Finally, an iterative inverse kinetostatic-based control method involving mechanic factors is proposed. Comparative experimental results demonstrate that the claw-type continuum robot outperforms the twin-pivot continuum robot in terms of torsion resistance by more than 300 times. Moreover, the SBEM achieves high morphology estimation accuracy with errors less than 2.91% of manipulator length and high efficiency with more than 20 times improvement for computation reduction compared with the conventional chained beam constraint model. Furthermore, the iterative inverse kinetostatic model-based control obtains a tip error less than 3.70% of manipulator length by only using the open-loop method. The proposed design, modeling, and control method exhibits vast potential for continuum robots when tackling challenging tasks such as inspection, maintenance, and medical surgery in confined and unstructured environments including engine flow paths, nuclear conduits, and human body cavities.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

continuum robots / rigid–flexible coupled structures / kinetostatic / inverse kinetostatic / control

References

[1] Liu J D, Tong Y C, Liu J G. Review of snake robots in constrained environments. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2021, 141: 103785

[2] Dong X, Raffles M, Guzman S C, Axinte D, Kell J. Design and analysis of a family of snake arm robots connected by compliant joints. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2014, 77: 73–91

[3] Zhang Z, Tang S J, Fan W C, Xun Y H, Wang H, Chen G L. Design and analysis of hybrid-driven origami continuum robots with extensible and stiffness-tunable sections. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2022, 169: 104607

[4] Dong X, Palmer D, Axinte D, Kell J. In-situ repair/maintenance with a continuum robotic machine tool in confined space. Journal of Manufacturing Processes, 2019, 38: 313–318

[5] Pistone A, Ludovico D, Dal Verme L D C, Leggieri S, Canali C, Caldwell D G. Modelling and control of manipulators for inspection and maintenance in challenging environments: a literature review. Annual Reviews in Control, 2024, 57: 100949

[6] Russo M, Raimondi L, Dong X, Axinte D, Kell J. Task-oriented optimal dimensional synthesis of robotic manipulators with limited mobility. Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 2021, 69: 102096

[7] Troncoso D A, Robles-Linares J A, Russo M, Elbanna M A, Wild S, Dong X, Mohammad A, Kell J, Norton A D, Axinte D. A continuum robot for remote applications: from industrial to medical surgery with slender continuum robots. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 2023, 30(3): 94–105

[8] MaN, BaW, ChangJ-C, Russo M, DongX, AxinteD. Design and modelling of a continuum robot with soft stiffness adjustable elements for confined environments. 2022, TeckRxiv preprint techrxiv.19345547

[9] Wu Z H, Zhu C X, Ding Y, Wang Y F, Xu B, Xu K. A robotic surgical tool with continuum wrist, kinematically optimized curved stem, and collision avoidance kinematics for single port procedure. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2022, 173: 104863

[10] Wang J, Hu C Q, Ning G C, Ma L F, Zhang X R, Liao H E. A novel miniature spring-based continuum manipulator for minimally invasive surgery: design and evaluation. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2023, 28(5): 2716–2727

[11] Russo M, Sadati S M H, Dong X, Mohammad A, Walker I D, Bergeles C, Xu K, Axinte D A. Continuum robots: an overview. Advanced Intelligent Systems, 2023, 5(5): 2200367

[12] Dong X, Raffles M, Cobos-Guzman S, Axinte D, Kell J. A novel continuum robot using twin-pivot compliant joints: design, modeling, and validation. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 2016, 8(2): 021010

[13] Li G X, Yu J, Tang Y C, Pan J, Cao S G, Pei X. Design and modeling of continuum robot based on virtual-center of motion mechanism. Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering, 2023, 18(2): 23

[14] Zhou Z, Zheng X D, Chen Z, Wang X Q, Liang B, Wang Q. Dynamics modeling and analysis of cable-driven segmented manipulator considering friction effects. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2022, 169: 104633

[15] Li J X, Xu W F, Li W S, Yan L, Liang B. Design and development of composite linkage mechanism for cable-driven segmented manipulator to increase synchronous accuracy and transmission distance. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2024, 9(1): 25–32

[16] Gao A Z, Li J H, Zhou Y Y, Wang Z D, Liu H. Modeling and task-oriented optimization of contact-aided continuum robots. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2020, 25(3): 1444–1455

[17] Ping Z Y, Zhang T C, Zhang C, Liu J B, Zuo S Y. Design of contact-aided compliant flexure hinge mechanism using superelastic Nitinol. Journal of Mechanical Design, 2021, 143(11): 114501

[18] Yang Z, Yang L, Sun Y, Chen X. A novel contact-aided continuum robotic system: design, modeling, and validation. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2024, 40: 3024

[19] LeiF, YiS, LiuS, LiaoJ, GuoZ, WangZ, YanT, DangR, SuB. Design and modeling of a cable-driven continuum robot considering large load. In: 2023 International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics (ICARM). IEEE, 2023, 581–586

[20] Hopkins J B. Designing hybrid flexure systems and elements using freedom and constraint topologies. Mechanical Sciences, 2013, 4(2): 319–331

[21] Li G X, Yu J J, Pan J, Pei X. Design of a novel flexible spherical hinge and its application in continuum robot. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 2024, 16(6): 061012

[22] Zhu B L, Zhang X M, Zhang H C, Liang J W, Zang H Y, Li H, Wang R X. Design of compliant mechanisms using continuum topology optimization: a review. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2020, 143: 103622

[23] Thomas T L, Venkiteswaran V K, Ananthasuresh G K, Misra S. Surgical applications of compliant mechanisms: a review. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 2021, 13(2): 020801

[24] Wei X Y, Ju F, Guo H, Chen B, Wu H T. Modeling and control of cable-driven continuum robot used for minimally invasive surgery. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part H, Journal of Engineering in Medicine, 2023, 237(1): 35–48

[25] Webster R J III, Jones B A. Design and kinematic modeling of constant curvature continuum robots: a review. International Journal of Robotics Research, 2010, 29(13): 1661–1683

[26] Boyer F, Lebastard V, Candelier F, Renda F, Alamir M. Statics and dynamics of continuum robots based on Cosserat rods and optimal control theories. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2023, 39(2): 1544–1562

[27] Liu Z Z, Cai Z Q, Peng H J, Zhang X G, Wu Z G. Morphology and tension perception of cable-driven continuum robots. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2023, 28(1): 314–325

[28] Yang J, Harsono E, Yu H. Dynamic modeling and validation of a hybrid-driven continuum robot with antagonistic mechanisms. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2024, 197: 105635

[29] Chen G M, Ma F L, Hao G B, Zhu W D. Modeling large deflections of initially curved beams in compliant mechanisms using chained beam constraint model. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 2019, 11(1): 011002

[30] Sadati S M H, Naghibi S E, Shiva A, Michael B, Renson L, Howard M, Rucker C D, Althoefer K, Nanayakkara T, Zschaler S, Bergeles C, Hauser H, Walker I D. TMTDyn: A Matlab package for modeling and control of hybrid rigid–continuum robots based on discretized lumped systems and reduced-order models. International Journal of Robotics Research, 2021, 40(1): 296–347

[31] Dupont P E, Simaan N, Choset H, Rucker C. Continuum robots for medical interventions. Proceedings of the IEEE, 2022, 110(7): 847–870

[32] Wild S, Zeng T Y, Mohammad A, Billingham J, Axinte D, Dong X. Efficient and scalable inverse kinematics for continuum robots. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2024, 9(1): 375–381

[33] Harib M, Chaoui H, Miah S. Evolution of adaptive learning for nonlinear dynamic systems: a systematic survey. Intelligence & Robotics, 2022, 2(1): 37–71

[34] YangZ, Lan Y, YangD, YangL, SunY, ChenX. Machine leaning-based method for kinematics parameters identification of twin-pivot cable-driven continuum robots. In: 2022 International Conference on Sensing, Measurement and Data Analytics in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (ICSMD). IEEE, 2022, 1–4

[35] El-Hussieny H, Hameed I A, Nada A. Deep CNN-based static modeling of soft robots utilizing absolute nodal coordinate formulation. Biomimetics, 2023, 8(8): 611

[36] ThompsonJ, Cho B Y, BrownD S, KuntzA. Modeling kinematic uncertainty of tendon-driven continuum robots via mixture density networks. 2024, arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.04241

[37] Chen G, Xu Y D, Yang C G, Yang X, Hu H S, Chai X X, Wang D H. Design and control of a novel bionic mantis shrimp robot. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2023, 28(6): 3376–3385

[38] Chen G, Xu Y D, Yang X, Hu H S, Cheng H, Zhu L Y, Zhang J J, Shi J W, Chai X X. Target tracking control of a bionic mantis shrimp robot with closed-loop central pattern generators. Ocean Engineering, 2024, 297: 116963

[39] Della Santina C, Duriez C, Rus D. Model-based control of soft robots: a survey of the state of the art and open challenges. IEEE Control Systems, 2023, 43(3): 30–65

[40] WangX R, Rojas N. A data-efficient model-based learning framework for the closed-loop control of continuum robots. In: the 5th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft). Edinburgh: IEEE, 2022, 247–254

[41] PengY, Yang L, SunY, ZhengY. Design of claw-type continuum robot based on rigid flexible coupled structure. In: 2023 International Conference on Sensing, Measurement & Data Analytics in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (ICSMD). IEEE, 2023, 1–4

[42] Shi H, Russo M, Torre J, Mohammad A, Dong X, Axinte D. Touching the sound: audible features enable haptics for robot control. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 2023, 30(3): 56–68

[43] Hopkins J B, Culpepper M L. Synthesis of multi-degree of freedom, parallel flexure system concepts via Freedom and Constraint Topology (FACT) – part I: principles. Precision Engineering, 2010, 34(2): 259–270

[44] Yuan H, Zhou L L, Xu W F. A comprehensive static model of cable-driven multi-section continuum robots considering friction effect. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2019, 135: 130–149

[45] Wang M F, Dong X, Ba W M, Mohammad A, Axinte D, Norton A. Design, modelling and validation of a novel extra slender continuum robot for in-situ inspection and repair in aeroengine. Robotics and Computer-integrated Manufacturing, 2021, 67: 102054

[46] Yang Z S, Yang L H, Sun Y, Chen X F. Comprehensive kinetostatic modeling and morphology characterization of cable-driven continuum robots for in-situ aero-engine maintenance. Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering, 2023, 18(3): 40

[47] Ba W, Chang J C, Liu J, Wang X, Dong X, Axinte D. An analytical differential kinematics-based method for controlling tendon-driven continuum robots. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2024, 171: 104562

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52475129, 52105117, and 52375125).

Conflict of Interest

Xuefeng CHEN is a member of the Editorial Board of Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering, who was excluded from the peer review and all editorial decisions related to the acceptance and publication of this article. Peer review was handled independently by the other editors to minimize bias.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2025 Higher Education Press