Skip to main content

A Finite Element Model and Performance Analysis of a Hybrid Continuum Robot

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 11742))

Abstract

The intrinsic compliance and flexibility make continuum robots more competent to work in unstructured environments as compared to conventional rigid robots, but at the expense of stiffness and positional precision. To handle this problem, this paper builds a static finite element model of such hybrid continuum robot to describe the individual structure of pneumatic muscles and rods in one actuator and identify the performance of each actuation method. The model agreed with the experimental results with an error less than 10 mm (4.76% of its initial length). Moreover, the simulated and experimental results validated the different performances of two different actuation methods.

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

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Li, M., Kang, R., Branson, D.T., Dai, J.S.: Model-free control for continuum robots based on an adaptive Kalman filter. IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron. 23(1), 286–297 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Burgner-Kahrs, J., Rucker, D.C., Choset, H.: Continuum robots for medical applications: asurvey. IEEE Trans. Robot. 31(6), 1261–1280 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Tsukagoshi, H., Kitagawa, A., Segawa, M.: Active hose: an artificial elephant’s nose with maneuverability for rescue operation. In: Proceedings of 2001 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2454–2459. IEEE, Seoul (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Robinson, G., Davies, J.B.C.: Continuum robots - a state of the art. In: Proceedings of 1999 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2849–2854. IEEE, Detroit (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Yuk, H., Shin, J.H., Jo, S.: Design and control of thermal SMA based small crawling robot mimicking C. elegans. In: 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 407–412. IEEE, Taipei (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Jani, J.M., Leary, M., Subic, A., Gibson, M.A.: A review of shape memory alloy research, applications and opportunities. Mater. Des. (1980–2015) 56, 1078–1113 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Shintake, J., Rosset, S., Schubert, B., Floreano, D., Shea, H.: Versatile soft grippers with intrinsic electroadhesion based on multifunctional polymer actuators. Adv. Mater. 28(2), 231–238 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Walker, I.D., et al.: Continuum robot arms inspired by cephalopods. In: Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology VII. SPIE (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Yuk, H., Lin, S., Ma, C., Takaffoli, M., Fang, N.X., Zhao, X.: Hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots optically and sonically camouflaged in water. Nat. Commun. 8, 14230 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Calisti, M., et al.: An octopus-bioinspired solution to movement and manipulation for soft robots. Bioinspiration Biomim. 6(3), 036002 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Xu, K., Simaan, N.: Actuation compensation for flexible surgical snake-like robots with redundant remote actuation. In: Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. IEEE (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Brown, E., et al.: Universal robotic gripper based on the jamming of granular material. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 107(44), 18809–18814 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Li, Y., Chen, Y., Yang, Y., Wei, Y.: Passive particle jamming and its stiffening of soft robotic grippers. IEEE Trans. Robot. 33(2), 446–455 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Shiva, A., et al.: Tendon-based stiffening for a pneumatically actuated soft manipulator. IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett. 1(2), 632–637 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Taniguchi, H., Miyake, M., Suzumori, K.: Development of new soft actuator using magnetic intelligent fluids for flexible walking robot. In: International Conference on Control Automation and Systems, pp. 1797–1801. IEEE, Gyeonggi-do (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kang, R., Guo, Y., Chen, L., Branson III, D.T., Dai, J.S.: Design of a pneumatic muscle based continuum robot with embedded tendons. IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron. 22(2), 751–761 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jones, B.A., Walker, I.D.: Kinematics for multisection continuum robots. IEEE Trans. Robot. 22(1), 43–55 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Xu, K., Simaan, N.: Analytic formulation for kinematics, statics, and shape restoration of multibackbone continuum robots via elliptic integrals. J. Mech. Robot. 2(1), 011006 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Renda, F., Cacucciolo, V., Dias, J., Seneviratne, L.: Discrete Cosserat approach for soft robot dynamics: a new piece-wise constant strain model with torsion and shears. In: 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 5495–5502. IEEE, Daejeon (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kang, R., Branson, D.T., Zheng, T., Guglielmino, E., Caldwell, D.G.: Design, modeling and control of a pneumatically actuated manipulator inspired by biological continuum structures. Bioinspiration Biomim. 8(3), 036008 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Sun, C., Chen, L., Liu, J., Dai, J.S., Kang, R.: A hybrid continuum robot based on pneumatic muscles with embedded elastic rods. In: Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part C J. Mech. Eng. Sci. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1177/0954406218822013

Download references

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFB1304600) and Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 51875393 and 51721003). We thank Chenghao Yang and Yue Liu for helpful suggestions and device supports in building the finite element model.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xinrui Wang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Zhuang, D., Wang, X., Sun, C., Kang, R. (2019). A Finite Element Model and Performance Analysis of a Hybrid Continuum Robot. In: Yu, H., Liu, J., Liu, L., Ju, Z., Liu, Y., Zhou, D. (eds) Intelligent Robotics and Applications. ICIRA 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11742. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27535-8_16

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27535-8_16

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-27534-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-27535-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics