Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Bio-inspired a novel dual-cross-module sections cable-driven continuum robot: design, kinematics modeling and workspace analysis

  • Technical Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years, research on continuum robots has advanced significantly to overcome the limitations of rigid-link robots that particularly suffer when working in a confined environment and have some insecure interaction. To address these issues, this paper proposes a design of a novel Cable-Driven Continuum Robot (CDCR) serially formed by dual-cross-module sections inspired by a fish bone-like structure. The proposed design combines multiple features of lightweight, flexibility, rigid structural stability, and asymmetric-shaped workspace. Furthermore, based on the famous Constant Curvature Kinematic Approach, the paper develops the forward and inverse kinematics of the proposed CDCR. The Forward Kinematics (FKs) are analytically developed, whereas the Inverse Kinematics (IKs) are numerically calculated. The IK of a single CDCR’s section, i.e., dual-cross-module CDCR’s section, is computed using polynomial functions fitting. Knowing the end-tip coordinates of each CDCR’s section, which are determined using Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm, the IK of multi-section CDCR is iteratively derived using a modular and IK-based concept of a single CDCR’s section. Besides, the CDCR’s workspace is analyzed and compared to that with a cylindrical backbone. Finally, in order to validate the proposed approaches, simulation examples via Matlab software for point-to-point trajectory tracking in free environment, are carried out. In addition, experimental measurements are conducted using a single CDCR’s section in order to evaluate the kinematic models and to analyze the design principle in terms of load capacity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability statement

Not applicable.

References

  1. Ma X, Song C, Chiu WP, Li Z (2019) Autonomous flexible endoscope for minimally invasive surgery with enhanced safety. IEEE Robot Autom Lett 4(3):2607–2613. https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2019.2895273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Youssef SM, Soliman M, Saleh MA, Mousa MA, Elsamanty M, Radwan AG (2022) Underwater soft robotics: a review of bioinspiration in design, actuation, modeling, and control. Micromachines 13(1):110. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13010110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Burgner-Kahrs J, Rucker DC, Choset H (2015) Continuum robots for medical applications: a survey. IEEE Trans Rob 31(6):1261–1280. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2015.2489500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Liu S, Yang Z, Zhu Z, Han L, Zhu X, Xu K (2016) Development of a dexterous continuum manipulator for exploration and inspection in confined spaces. Indust Robot Int J 43(3):284–295. https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-07-2015-0142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hannan MW, Walker ID (2003) Kinematics and the implementation of an elephant’s trunk manipulator and other continuum style robots. J Robot Syst 20(2):45–63. https://doi.org/10.1002/rob.10070

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. McMahan W, Jones BA, Walker I, Chitrakaran V, Seshadri A, Dawson D (2004) Robotic manipulators inspired by cephalopod limbs. In: Proceedings of the Canadian engineering education association (CEEA), pp 1–10. https://doi.org/10.24908/pceea.v0i0.3994

  7. Walker ID (2013) Continuous Backbone “Continuum” robot manipulators. International Scholarly Research Notices, vol. 2013, Article ID 726506. https://doi.org/10.5402/2013/726506

  8. Coad MM et al (2020) Vine robots: design, teleoperation, and deployment for navigation and exploration. Proc IEEE Robot Autom Mag 27(3):120–132. https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2019.2947538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kolachalama S, Lakshmanan S (2020) Continuum robots for manipulation applications: a survey. J Robot 2020, Article ID 4187048 . https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/4187048

  10. Zhong Y, Hu L, Xu Y (2020) Recent advances in design and actuation of continuum robots for medical applications. Actuators 9(4):142. https://doi.org/10.3390/act9040142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhang Y, Lu M (2020) A review of recent advancements in soft and flexible robots for medical applications. Int J Med Robot Comput Assist Surg 16:3. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcs.2096

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Webster RJ, Jones BA (2010) Design and kinematic modeling of constant curvature continuum robots: a review. Int J Robot Res 29(13):1661–1683. https://doi.org/10.1177/0278364910368147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hirose S (1993) Biologically inspired robots. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 147–155

    Google Scholar 

  14. Hirose S, Yamada H (2009) Snake-like robots. IEEE Robot Autom Mag 16(1):88–98. https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2009.932130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Hu TC, Kahng AB, Robins G (1993) Optimal robust path planning in general environments. IEEE Trans Robot Autom 9(6):775–784. https://doi.org/10.1109/70.265921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Fahimi F, Ashrafiuon H, Nataraj C (2002) An improved inverse kinematic and velocity solution for spatial hyper-redundant robots. IEEE Trans Robot Autom 18(1):103–107. https://doi.org/10.1109/70.988980

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Tunay I (2013) Spatial continuum models of rods undergoing large deformation and in ation. IEEE Trans Rob 29(2):297–307. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2012.2232532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Rucker DC, Jones BA, Webster RJ (2010) A geometrically exact model for externally loaded concentric-tube continuum robots. IEEE Trans Rob 26(5):769–780. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2010.2062570

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Xu K, Simaan N (2010) Analytic formulation for kinematics, statics, and shape restoration of multibackbone continuum robots via elliptic integrals. J Mech Robot. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4000519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Rucker DC, Webster RJ, Chirikjian GS, Cowan NJ (2010) Equilibrium conformations of concentric-tube continuum robots. Int J Robot Res 29(10):1263–1280. https://doi.org/10.1177/0278364910367543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Neppalli S, Csencsits MA, Jones BA, Walker ID (2009) Closed-form inverse kinematics for continuum manipulators. Adv Robot 23:2077–2091. https://doi.org/10.1163/016918609X12529299964101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Mahl T, Hildebrandt A, Sawodny O (2014) A variable curvature continuum kinematics for kinematic control of the bionic handling assistant. IEEE Trans Rob 30(4):935–949. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2014.2314777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Jones BA, Walker ID (2006) Kinematics for multisection continuum robots. IEEE Trans Robot Autom 22(1):43–55. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2005.861458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hollerbach JM, Wampler CW (1996) The calibration index and taxonomy for robot kinematic calibration methods. Int J Robot Res 15(6):573–591. https://doi.org/10.1177/027836499601500604

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Merabti H, Belarbi K, Bouchemal B (2016) Nonlinear predictive control of a mobile robot: a solution using metaheuristcs. J Chin Inst Eng 39(3):282–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/02533839.2015.1091276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Amouri A, Cherfia A, Merabti H, Laib DLY (2022) Nonlinear model predictive control of a class of continuum robots using kinematic and dynamic models. FME Trans J 50(2):339–350. https://doi.org/10.5937/fme2201350A

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Djeffal S, Mahfoudi C, Amouri A (2021) Comparison of three meta-heuristic algorithms for solving inverse kinematics problems of variable curvature continuum robots. In: 2021 European conference on mobile robots (ECMR), pp 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/ECMR50962.2021.9568789

  28. Amouri A, Mahfoudi C, Zaatri A, Lakhal O, Merzouki R (2017) A metaheuristic approach to solve inverse kinematics of continuum manipulators. J Syst Control Eng 231(5):380–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959651817700779

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Amouri A, Mahfoudi C, Zaatri A (2015) Contribution to inverse kinematic modeling of a planar continuum robot using a particle swarm optimization. Multiph Model Simul Syst Des Monit 2:141–150

    Google Scholar 

  30. Iqbal S, Mohammed S, Amirat YA (2009) A guaranteed approach for kinematic analysis of continuum robot based catheter. In: Proceeding of the IEEE international conference on robotics and biomimetics, pp 1573–1578. https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBIO.2009.5420395

  31. Kennedy J, Eberhart RC (1995) Particle swarm optimization. Proc IEEE Int Conf Neural Netw 4:1942–1948. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICNN.1995.488968

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Zhou P, Yao J, Zhang S, Wei C, Zhang H, Qi S (2022) A bioinspired fishbone continuum robot with rigid-flexible-soft coupling structure. Bioinspiration Biomimetics 1:21. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/ac8c10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Du R, Li Z, Youcef-Toumi K, Valdivia y Alvarado P (2015) Robot fish: bio-inspired fishlike underwater robots. Springer, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-662-46869-2, Number of Pages X, 377

  34. Gao G, Wang H, Xia Q, Song M, Ren H (2016) Study on the load capacity of a single-section continuum manipulator. Mech Mach Theory 104:313–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2016.06.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Rone WS, Ben-Tzvi P (2014) Continuum robot dynamics utilizing the principle of virtual power. IEEE Trans Rob 30(1):275–287. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2013.2281564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Amouri A (2019) Investigation of the constant curvature kinematic assumption of a 2-Dofs cable-driven continuum robot. UPB Sci Bull Ser D Mech Eng 81(3):27–38

    Google Scholar 

  37. Yuan H, Li Z (2018) Workspace analysis of cable-driven continuum manipulators based on static model. Robot Comput Integr Manuf 49:240–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcim.2017.07.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Rezaee-Jordehi A, Jasni J (2013) Parameter selection in particle swarm optimization: a survey. J Exp Theor Artif Intell 25(4):527–542. https://doi.org/10.1080/0952813X.2013.782348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Ram RV, Pathak PM, Junco SJ (2019) Inverse kinematics of mobile manipulator using bidirectional particle swarm optimization by manipulator decoupling. Mech Mach Theory 131:385–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2018.09.022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Merrad A, Amouri A, Cherfia A, Djeffal S (2022) A reliable algorithm for obtaining all-inclusive inverse kinematics’ solutions and redundancy resolution of continuum robots. Arab J Sci Eng. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-022-07065-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Rolf M, Steil JJ (2014) Efficient exploratory learning of inverse kinematics on a bionic elephant trunk. IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst 25(6):1147–1160. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNNLS.2013.2287890

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Lakhal O, Melingui A, Merzouki R (2016) Hybrid approach for modeling and solving of kinematics of compact bionic handling assistant manipulator. IEEE ASME Trans Mechatron 21(3):1326–1335. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2015.2490180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Trivedi D, Lotfi A, Rahn CD (2008) Geometrically exact models for soft robotic manipulators. IEEE Trans Rob 24(4):773–780. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2008.924923

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Riad Belouahem, Faculty of Letters and Language, Frères Mentouri University, Constantine 1, Algeria, for proofreading the article.

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Mechanics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Frères Mentouri Constantine 1 University, B.P. 325, Ain el Bey Road, 25017, Constantine, Algeria

    Ammar Amouri, Abdelhakim Cherfia & Ayman Belkhiri

  2. Research Center in Industrial Technologies, CRTI, P. O. Box 64, 16014, Cheraga, Algiers, Algeria

    Halim Merabti

Authors
  1. Ammar Amouri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Abdelhakim Cherfia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ayman Belkhiri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Halim Merabti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

AA is the corresponding author of the article, contributed to the development of the mathematical models, performed the simulations and analyzed the results . AC conceived the novel design of the robot and supervised the research. AB contributed in discussions and revision of the manuscript. HM contributed to the prototype fabrication and experimental measurements. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ammar Amouri.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

Not applicable

Consent to participate

This study did not involve any third-party participation. All authors consent to participation.

Consent for publication

This study did not involve any third-party participation. All authors consent to publication.

Additional information

Technical Editor: Rogério Sales Gonçalves.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Amouri, A., Cherfia, A., Belkhiri, A. et al. Bio-inspired a novel dual-cross-module sections cable-driven continuum robot: design, kinematics modeling and workspace analysis. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 45, 265 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-023-04197-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-023-04197-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation