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Analysis of a novel manipulator with low melting point alloy initiated stiffness variation and shape detection for minimally invasive surgery

Xiaoyong Wei (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of digital medical equipment technology, Nanjing, China)
Feng Ju (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of digital medical equipment technology, Nanjing, China)
Bai Chen (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of digital medical equipment technology, Nanjing, China)
Hao Guo (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of digital medical equipment technology, Nanjing, China)
Dan Wang (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of digital medical equipment technology, Nanjing, China)
Yaoyao Wang (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of digital medical equipment technology, Nanjing, China)
Hongtao Wu (College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of digital medical equipment technology, Nanjing, China)

Industrial Robot

ISSN: 0143-991x

Article publication date: 23 December 2020

Issue publication date: 5 July 2021

280

Abstract

Purpose

There is an increasing popularity for the continuum robot in minimally invasive surgery owing to its compliance and dexterity. However, the dexterity takes the challenges in loading and precise control because of the absence of the shape tracking for the continuum robot. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new type of continuum manipulator with variable stiffness that can track the bending shape timely.

Design/methodology/approach

The low-melting-point alloy (LMPA) is used to implement the stiffness variation and shape detection for the continuum manipulator. A conceptual design for a single module is presented, and the principle of stiffness control based on the established static model is formulated. Afterward, a shape detection method is introduced in which the shape of the continuum manipulator can be detected by measuring the resistance of every LMPA. Finally, the effect of the proposed variable stiffness method is verified by simulation; the variable stiffness and shape detection methods are evaluated by experiments.

Findings

The results from the simulations and experiments indicate that the designed continuum manipulator has the ability of stiffness variation over 42.3% and the shape detection method has high precision.

Originality/value

Compared with conventional structures, the novel manipulator has a simpler structure and integrates the stiffness variation and shape detection capabilities with the LMPA. The proposed method is promising, and it can be conveniently extended to other continuum manipulators.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, No. NS2020036”, National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61973335), and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under Grant BK20191272.

Citation

Wei, X., Ju, F., Chen, B., Guo, H., Wang, D., Wang, Y. and Wu, H. (2021), "Analysis of a novel manipulator with low melting point alloy initiated stiffness variation and shape detection for minimally invasive surgery", Industrial Robot, Vol. 48 No. 2, pp. 247-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-07-2020-0139

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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