Cooperative continuum robots: Enhancing individual continuum arms by reconfiguring into a parallel manipulator

Russo, Matteo; Sriratanasak, Natthapol; Ba, Weiming; Dong, Xin; Mohammad, Abdelkhalick; Axinte, Dragos

Abstract

Continuum robots are able of in-situ inspection tasks in cluttered environments and narrow passages, where conventional robots and human operators cannot intervene. However, such intervention often requires the robot to interact with the environment, and the low stiffness and payload of continuum robots limits their intervention capabilities. In this paper, we propose a paradigm shift from individual to multiple continuum robots, which can reach the target environment from different paths and then physically connect, reconfiguring into a parallel architecture to enhance precision, stiffness, and payload. The main challenges in modelling and controlling cooperative continuum robots are outlined, and an experimental comparison between individual and cooperating continuum robots that connect through a novel shape-memory-alloy-based clutch highlights the advantages of the proposed technology.

Citation

Russo, M., Sriratanasak, N., Ba, W., Dong, X., Mohammad, A., & Axinte, D. (2022). Cooperative continuum robots: Enhancing individual continuum arms by reconfiguring into a parallel manipulator. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(2), 1558-1565. https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2021.3139371

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 23, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Dec 31, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022-04
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 19, 2022
• Journal: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
• Electronic ISSN: 2377-3766
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 1558-1565
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2021.3139371
• Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Control and Optimization; Computer Science Applications; Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition; Mechanical Engineering; Human-Computer Interaction; Biomedical Engineering; Control and Systems Engineering
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7278156
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=9647862
• Additional Information: © 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.