Continuum robot actuation by a single motor per antagonistic tendon pair: Workspace and repeatability analysis

Abstract

Continuum robots for application in medicine are of high interest in recent research. However, as most systems in literature show complex and large actuator units, setting up such a system can be time consuming, costly and results in a bulky system, unsuitable for the spatial requirements given in surgical scenarios. In this work, a compact, efficient continuum robotic system is presented. A pair of two antagonistic tendons is controlled by a single servo motor instead of single tendon actuation. This way, the actuator footprint is maintained at a minimum size and the method results in a simpler setup. The resulting 260 mm long robot with 9.9 mm diameter achieves a repeatability with an error of maximum 1.8 % of its length. In future work, this work serves as a basis for integration of various sensing modalities in continuum robots and evaluation of control algorithms.