Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T10:06:37.068Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Minimally actuated serial robot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2017

Moshe P. Mann ,
Lior Damti ,
Gideon Tirosh  and
David Zarrouk
Moshe P. Mann
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Southern Israel
Lior Damti
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Southern Israel
Gideon Tirosh
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Southern Israel
David Zarrouk*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Southern Israel
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: zadavid@bgu.ac.il
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In this paper, we propose a novel type of serial robot with minimal actuation. The robot is a serial rigid structure consisting of multiple links connected by passive joints and of movable actuators. The novelty of this robot is that the actuators travel over the links to a given joint and adjust the relative angle between the two adjacent links. The joints passively preserve their angles until one of the actuators moves them again. This actuation can be applied to any serial robot with two or more links. This unique configuration enables the robot to undergo the same wide range of motions typically associated with hyper-redundant robots but with much fewer actuators. The robot is modular and its size and geometry can be easily changed. We describe the robot's mechanical design and kinematics in detail and demonstrate its capabilities for obstacle avoidance with some simulated examples. In addition, we show how an experimental robot fitted with a single mobile actuator can maneuver through a confined space to reach its target.

Keywords

Hyper-redundant robotMinimal actuationMotion planningMobile actuator
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , March 2018 , pp. 408 - 426
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Footnotes

1

These authors contributed equally to this work.

References

1. Liljeback, P., Pettersen, K., Stavdahl, O. and Gravdahl, J., “A review on modelling, implementation, and control of snake robots,” Robot. Autonmous Syst. 60 (1), 29–40 (2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Liljeback, P., Pettersen, K., Stavdahl, O. and Gravdahl, J., Snake Robots - Modelling, Mechatronics, and Control, (Springer, London, 2013).Google Scholar
3. Singh, P. and Krishna, C., “Continuum arm robotic manipulator: A review,” Universal J. Mech. Eng. 2 (6), 193–198 (2014).Google Scholar
4. Choset, H., Lynch, K., Hutchinson, S., Kantor, G., Burgard, W., Kavraki, L. and Thrun, S., Principles of Robot Motion–-Theory, Algorithms, and Implementation, (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005).Google Scholar
5. Lavalle, S., Planning Algorithms, (Cambridge University Press, New York, 2006).Google Scholar
6. Chirikjian, G., “Theory and applications of hyper-redundant robotic manipulators,” Thesis (dissertation Ph.D), California Institute of Technology, Engineering and applied science, (1992).Google Scholar
7. Chirikjian, G. and Burdick, J., “An obstacle avoidance algorithm for hyper-redundant manipulators,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, (Cincinnatti, OH, 1990), pp. 625–631.Google Scholar
8. Chirikjian, G. and Burdick, J., “Design and experiments with a 30 DOF robot,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, (Atlanta, GA, 1993), pp. 113–119.Google Scholar
9. Chirikjian, G., “Hyper-Redundant robot mechanisms and their applications,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intellgent Robots and Systems, (Osaka, Japan, 1991), pp. 185–190.Google Scholar
10. Graca, M. D. and Machado, J. T., “An evolutionary approach for the motion planning of redundant and hyper-redundant manipulators,” Nonlinear Dynamics 30 (1–2), 115–129 (2010).Google Scholar
11. Xidias, E. and Aspragathos, N., “Time Sub-Optimal Path Planning for Hyper Redundant Manipulators Amidst Narrow Passages in 3D Workspaces,” In: Advances on Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators (Ceccarelli, M. and Glazunov, V., eds.) vol. 22, (Springer, 2014) pp. 445–452.Google Scholar
12. Shukla, A., Singla, E., Wahi, P. and Dasgupta, B., “A direct variational method for planning monotonically optimal paths for redundant manipulators in constrained workspaces,” Robot. Autonomous Syst. 61 (2), 209–220 (2013).Google Scholar
13. Shvalb, N., Moshe, B. B. and Medina, O., “A real-time motion planning algorithm for a hyper-redundant set of mechanisms,” Robotica 31 (8), 1327–1335 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Tappe, S., Dörbaum, M., Kotlarski, J., Ponick, B. and Ortmaier, T., “Kinematics and Dynamics Identification of a Hyper-redundant, Electromagnetically Actuated Manipulator,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, (Banff, Alberta, 2016), pp. 601–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Karnjanaparichat, T. and Pongvuthithum, R., “Adaptive tracking control of multi-link robots actuated by pneumatic muscles with additive disturbances,” Robotica 35 (11), 2139–2156 (2016).Google Scholar
16. Trivedi, D., Rahn, C., Kier, W. and Walker, I., “Soft robotics: Biological inspiration, state of the art, and future research,” Appl. Bionics Biomechanics 5 (3), 99–117 (2008).Google Scholar
17. Walker, I., “Continuous backbone “continuum” robot manipulators,” ISRN Robot. 2013, pp. 1–19 (2013).Google Scholar
18. Knapp, M., “Sines and Cosines of angles in arithmetic progression,” Math. Mag. 82 (5), 371–372 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. Rollinson, D. and Choset, H., “Pipe network locomotion with a snake robot,” J. Field Robot. 33 (3), 322–336 (2014).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20. Cheng, E., Gao, S., Qiu, K. and Shen, Z., “On Disjoint Shortest Paths Routing on the Hypercube,” In: Combinatorial Optimization and Applications (Ding-Zhu, D., Xiaodong, H. and Pardalos, P. M., eds.) vol. 5573, (Springer, 2009) pp. 375–383.Google Scholar

Mann et al supplementary material 1

Supplementary Video

Download Mann et al supplementary material 1(Video)
Video 14.6 MB