Hyper-redundant planar manipulators: motion planning with discrete modal summation procedure

Biological systems such as human spine, elephant trunk, snakes, and earthworms possess very high maneuverability during motion. Analogous mechanical devices are useful for applications such as inspection, exploration, manipulation, and locomotion in restricted spaces. An important feature which high mobility devices possess is small motion limits at the joints. The objectives of this paper are: (i) to present an algorithm for motion planning of planar hyper-redundant manipulator systems with limited joint motion using a discrete modal summation procedure; (ii) to apply the algorithm for motion in free space as well as retrieve objects through holes in the work environment; and (iii) to show results of application of this algorithm for motion planning of a mechanical spine with many active motion segments