Design and shape control of a three-section continuum robot

Abstract

Continuum robot has exhibited advantage in minimally invasive surgery for its flexibility. This paper presents the design of a three-section continuum robot that employs twelve flexible rods and six linear motors under an interactive shape control. The length of the entire robot and the length difference among sections are minimized by optimizing the approximate workspace to meet the requirement of desired workspace. A tracking control system is further developed to assist user in regulating the robot by a digital pen on a digitizer tablet or a touch screen and controlling the shape by drawing the desired curve. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the proposed approach.