A hyper-redundant continuous robot

This paper presents a novel design and analysis of a hyper-redundant continuous robot (biological continuum style manipulator), actuation system, and control strategy. The robot includes 8 flexible segments, though it can be extended to more segments as necessary. In this study the gravity of the springs is neglected due to the manipulation force is much larger than these gravity forces. This mechanism exhibits a wide range of maneuverability and has a large number of degrees of freedom. Each segment is designed using a novel flexible mechanism based on the loading of a compression spring in both transverse and axial directions and using cable-conduit systems. The forward kinematics of the mechanism is also presented and lends itself well to computer control. It is shown that the solution of the transverse deflection of each segment is obtained in a general form, while the stiffness coefficients are obtained in closed form. A prototype robot segment is experimentally tested, the results are verified. A bench-top actuation system has been developed and a control scheme used in prosthetic hand control has been implemented to control the mechanism.