Abstract
Tendon-driven robots are commonly used in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) due to its small size, high dexterity and great controllability. However, there is a general tradeoff between miniaturization and dexterity of a tendon-driven robot, due to the large number of tendons required to actuate a multi-degree-of-freedom (multi-DoF) robotic motion. This work presents a novel design of robot that employs only one pair of tendons to actuate multiple rigidity-adjustable joints via a time-division multiplexing actuation method. The joints can be locked and unlocked by a fast-response and power-saving mini-solenoid clutch mechanism, and the accumulated actuation of the unlocked joints at each time yields a multi-DoF robotic motion. Experiments on a two-DoF robot prototype show that joint motions under the tendon actuation are well decoupled and have high repeatability in a wide range of angles. The results indicate that this method can be used to develop miniature and dexterous surgical robots with high control speed and accuracy.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.