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 letter, 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.
Highlights
The inspection and maintenance of capital-intensive industrial infrastructures such as aeroengines, nuclear facilities, and telecommunication networks are critical tasks to achieve safety and reliability
Some parallel continuum robots can adapt their geometry to the task: the base position and orientation of the prototype in [18] can be manually reconfigured to comply with environmental constraints, while the steerable needle in [19] is guided by parallel “snare” limbs to improve its motion control
The proposed SMAbased interface mechanism has been demonstrated in a realcase scenario by having two continuum robots meet and connect within a glovebox mockup for a decommissioning operation in a nuclear facility
Summary
The inspection and maintenance of capital-intensive industrial infrastructures such as aeroengines, nuclear facilities, and telecommunication networks are critical tasks to achieve safety and reliability. Some parallel continuum robots can adapt their geometry to the task: the base position and orientation of the prototype in [18] can be manually reconfigured to comply with environmental constraints, while the steerable needle in [19] is guided by parallel “snare” limbs to improve its motion control These systems, cannot enter the typical work areas for industrial continuum robots, such as turbines and pipes, which all require a long reach with a narrow access port. The capability to reconfigure individual continuum arms, which can navigate independently to secluded workspaces, into a parallel mechanism could enable the usage of these structures in aeroengines and similar challenging environments This manuscript introduces a new concept of reconfigurable continuum robots with experimental examples.
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