Forward and Inverse Kinematics Analysis of a Spatial Three-Segment Continuum Robot

Abstract

Recently, soft robots have been intensively investigated in robotics research. One of the types of the soft robots is continuum robot which has high degree of freedom or continuous, backbone structures. In this article, a spatial three-segment continuum robot with elastic backbone is considered. The moving of robot is driven by cable wires through the main movement of backbone. The kinematic characteristics of the continuum robot are demonstrated by modeling the kinematics of its flexible backbone. The relationship between the joint variables in joint space and the position variables in workspace is shown by building the kinematic equations. Forward kinematics is the first step toward solving the inverse kinematics and dynamics problem. Inverse kinematics problem plays important role in designing the control system for robots. These problems are solved based on D–H techniques and closed-loop inverse kinematics algorithm (CLIK). The workspace of robot is also calculated. The results of this research can be used to design the control system.KeywordsContinuum robotsKinematics analyzingWorkspaceSoft robots