Based on the feedback linearization of joints motion and the tension optimization of cables, a hyper-redundant snake-arm robot control strategy is presented to solve the problems caused by the joint motion coupling and the cable drive redundancy. First, a hierarchical control system architecture of snake-arm robot is developed. Subsequently, the computed torque control method is utilized to decouple the motion in the joint space, and the tension distribution satisfying the constraint condition is obtained in the cable space by quadratic programming. Since it is hard and also expensive to feedback joint motion and cable tension by sensors, the cable tensions are obtained by the system dynamics equation and the position and speed of joints motion is calculated approximately from the driving electric motors’ position. Finally, the control performance under three typical conditions is studied by numerical simulation. The results demonstrate that the presented method can effectively limit the cable tensions within the range of the minimum preload tension and the maximum allowable tension.

基于关节运动的反馈线性化和缆索的张力优化，提出了一种超冗余蛇臂机器人控制策略，以解决关节运动耦合和缆索驱动冗余引起的问题。首先，开发了蛇臂机器人的分层控制系统架构。随后，利用计算力矩控制方法对关节空间中的运动进行解耦，通过二次规划得到满足约束条件的拉索空间中的张力分布。由于通过传感器反馈关节运动和电缆张力既困难又昂贵，电缆张力由系统动力学方程获得，关节运动的位置和速度由驱动电机的位置近似计算。最后，通过数值模拟研究了三种典型工况下的控制性能。结果表明，所提出的方法可以有效地将索拉力限制在最小预紧拉力和最大允许拉力范围内。