A model for concentric tube continuum robots under applied wrenches

Continuum robots made from telescoping precurved elastic tubes enable base-mounted actuators to specify the curved shapes of robots as thin as standard surgical needles. While free space beam mechanics-based models of the shape of these `active cannulas' exist, current models cannot account for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation pp. 1047 - 1052
Main Authors Rucker, D Caleb, Jones, Bryan A, Webster, Robert J
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.05.2010
Subjects
Active shape model
Force control
Kinematics
Laser surgery
Lungs
Minimally invasive surgery
Needles
Orbital robotics
Robotics and automation
Robots
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ISBN9781424450381
1424450381
ISSN1050-4729
DOI10.1109/ROBOT.2010.5509701

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Summary:Continuum robots made from telescoping precurved elastic tubes enable base-mounted actuators to specify the curved shapes of robots as thin as standard surgical needles. While free space beam mechanics-based models of the shape of these `active cannulas' exist, current models cannot account for external forces and torques applied to the cannula by the environment. In this paper we apply geometrically exact beam theory to solve the statics problem for concentric-tube continuum robots. This yields the equivalent of forward kinematics for an active cannula with general tube precurvature functions and arbitrarily many tubes, under loading from a general wrench distribution. The model achieves average experimental tip errors of less than 3 mm over the workspace of a prototype active cannula subject to various tip forces.
ISBN:9781424450381
1424450381
ISSN:1050-4729
DOI:10.1109/ROBOT.2010.5509701