Statics modeling of planar continuum robots using virtual energy method

Continuum robot structures are bio inspired mechanisms made of flexible backbones. These robots have been developed in the last decade in a variety of applications, such as dexterous surgical applications and working in industrial hazardous areas. Precise modeling of continuum robots is necessary for accurate control. In addition to precision, the computation time of such models need to be reasonable, so that they can be used in real-time control applications. Many works has been done on modeling of continuum robots. In this paper, we develop our previous works on modeling of continuum robots, in order to achieve faster solutions. The backbone kinematics is approximated by a series of constant-curvature elements. Then, the robot is modeled using the virtual energy method. The new model is compared with the previous methods, and its two noticeable advantages are discussed. Finally, the accuracy of the results are compared with the results from previous methods, and validated using our experimental setup. The experimental results show the accuracy of the proposed model.