Shape control of hyper-redundant modularized manipulator using variable structure regular polygon

Hyper-redundant manipulator has more degrees of freedom than the least necessary to perform a given task, thus it has the features of overcoming conventional industrial robot's limitation such as improving its kinematics and dynamic performances. Crucial as it is, effective control of hyper-redundant manipulator is difficult for its redundancy. A novel shape control technique based on the concept of variable structure regular polygon and subsystem has been proposed. This technique, using variable structure regular polygon and neural networks models, is completely capable of solving the control problem of a planar hyper-redundant manipulator with any number of links following any desired path. With regular polygon side number's variety and its shape's transformation, the manipulator's configuration changes accordingly and moves actively to perform the task form point to point or following a path. Compared with other methods to our knowledge, this technique has such superiorities as fewer control parameters, higher precision and less computation. Simulation of a six-link modularized manipulator's inspection work in a bottle-like concave has demonstrated that this control technique is available and effective.