Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a follow-the-leader motion strategy for multi-section continuum robots, which aims to make the robot have the motion ability in a confined environment and avoid a collision.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the mechanical design of a multi-section continuum robot is introduced and the forward kinematic model is built. After that, the follow-the-leader motion strategy is proposed and the differential evolution (DE) algorithm for calculating optimal posture parameters is presented. Then simulations and experiments are carried out on a series of predefined paths to analyze the performance of the follow-the-leader motion.

Findings

The follow-the-leader motion can be well performed on the continuum robots this study proposes in this research. The experimental results show that the deviation from the path is less than 9.7% and the tip error is no more than 15.6%.

Research limitations/implications

Currently, the follow-the-leader motion is affected by the following factors such as gravity and continuum robot design. Furthermore, the position error is not compensated under open-loop control. In future work, this paper will improve the accuracy of the robot and introduce a closed-loop control strategy to improve the motion accuracy.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this paper is to present an algorithm to generate follow-the-leader motion of the continuum robot based on DE. This method is suitable for solving new arrangements in the process of following a nonlinear path. Then, it is expected to promote the engineering application of the continuum robot.

中文翻译：

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基于差分进化算法的多段连续体机器人跟随领导运动策略

目的

本文的目的是提出一种多段连续体机器人的跟随领导运动策略，旨在使机器人具有在受限环境中的运动能力并避免碰撞。

设计/方法/方法

首先，介绍了多段连续体机器人的机械设计，建立了正向运动学模型。之后，提出了跟随领导者的运动策略，并提出了计算最优姿态参数的差分进化（DE）算法。然后在一系列预定义的路径上进行模拟和实验，以分析跟随领先运动的性能。

发现

在本研究中提出的连续体机器人上可以很好地执行跟随领导者运动。实验结果表明，与路径的偏差小于9.7%，尖端误差不大于15.6%。

研究限制/影响

目前，跟随领导运动受到以下因素的影响，例如重力和连续体机器人设计。此外，在开环控制下不补偿位置误差。在未来的工作中，本文将提高机器人的精度，并引入闭环控制策略来提高运动精度。

原创性/价值

本文的主要贡献是提出了一种基于 DE 生成连续体机器人跟随领导运动的算法。该方法适用于求解非线性路径过程中的新排列。然后，有望推动连续体机器人的工程应用。