Kinematic Modeling of A Constant Curvature Continuum Manipulator Using Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

Over the past few years, soft continuum manipulators gained popularity in advanced robotic systems due to its compliance and ability to execute different complicated tasks in an unstructured environment that are not possible with hard manipulators. In this field of soft robotics, series of experiments and revisions are usually performed first to come up with a nearly perfect hardware prototype. Only after these validations will simulations and kinematic modeling be performed. Recent advancement in the research field includes simulation using the combination of finite element analysis and a mathematical software for performing numerical iterations. This paper presents a kinematic modeling of a single link constant curvature continuum manipulator based on finite element analysis. The approach aims to demonstrate the capability of finite element analysis to do a “specific” modeling of soft continuum manipulator, i.e., pressure and actuator s length relationship. The result allows us to do complete simulation and modeling of forward and inverse kinematics even if a hardware prototype has not been constructed yet.