Dynamic Modelling of a Continuum Robot Arm with Five 3-DoF Segments

Continuum robots have recently become a popular topic of research due to the wide range of their applications such as surgical applications, hazardous industrial areas, and search and rescue missions; The maneuverability of continuum robots proves them to be especially effective in unstructured environments. However, the non-linearity and compliant structure make the dynamics of the robot complicated. In this paper, a three-degree-of-freedom continuum robot arm is investigated. The kinematics of the robot are expressed by discretizing the robot into five segments. Each segment of the robot can bend, rotate, and extend/contract. Afterward, the Euler–Lagrange method is used to form the dynamic equations of the system. Then, the model is verified by a numerical simulation to solve the system for specific cases. The model is also experimentally validated for the same selected cases by using an available setup.