A Continuum Robot for Remote Applications: From Industrial to Medical Surgery With Slender Continuum Robots

Troncoso, David Alatorre; Robles-Linares, Jose A.; Russo, Matteo; Elbanna, Mohamed A.; Wild, Samuel; Dong, Xin; Mohammad, Abdelkhalick; Kell, James; Norton, Andy D.; Axinte, Dragos

Abstract

The maintenance of critical industrial components is often hindered by limited access, tortuous passages, and complex geometries. In highly constrained environments, inspection tasks are currently performed with borescopes, but even skilled operators struggle with hard-To-reach targets, and the limited mobility prevents in situ repair when defects are identified. Thanks to an active shape control, snake-like and continuum robots can outperform borescopes for short-range inspection as well as enable intervention. However, their actuation technology limits their scalability in length, as longer bodies pose control challenges due to their intrinsically low stiffness and space constraints. To overcome the limitations of both borescopes and continuum robots, here, we propose a modular design at their intersection, with both active tendon-driven and passively flexible segments. The main elements of the novel design, including the actuation and control interface, are described, and the system is demonstrated in scenarios for aerospace assets, nuclear installations, and robot-Assisted surgery.

Citation

Troncoso, D. A., Robles-Linares, J. A., Russo, M., Elbanna, M. A., Wild, S., Dong, X., Mohammad, A., Kell, J., Norton, A. D., & Axinte, D. (2023). A Continuum Robot for Remote Applications: From Industrial to Medical Surgery With Slender Continuum Robots. IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 30(3), 94-105. https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2022.3223220

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 5, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Dec 5, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023-09
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2024
• Journal: IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine
• Print ISSN: 1070-9932
• Electronic ISSN: 1558-223X
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 94-105
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2022.3223220
• Keywords: Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Computer Science Applications; Control and Systems Engineering
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/14602117
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9970424