An evaluation of closed-loop control options for continuum manipulators

Continuum manipulators are gaining widespread acceptance in commercial robotics, particularly in the medical field, where their compliance allows a large benefit for patient safety. However, this compliance also makes precise position control of these manipulators quite difficult. This paper presents two closed-loop control implementations applied to a small scale continuum manipulator. These implementations are both based on manipulator tip position feedback from an electromagnetic sensor. The command tracking and disturbance rejection properties of the two control implementations are shown to be approximately equivalent, and provide improved position control when compared to open-loop control, without sacrificing system stability.