Design of an Interactive Control System for a Multisection Continuum Robot

Continuum robots exhibit unique advantages of flexibility and maneuverability in an unstructured environment. This paper presents the development of a human-robot interactive control system that includes two operational modes for controlling end-effector position and the entire robot shape with image feedback. To control the end-effector position, all the desired positions of the end effector fall within a reachable workspace constructed with an approximate boundary. To control the robot shape, a shape correspondence between the robot shape and the desired curve is determined to assist in examining whether the robot can follow the desired path with an acceptable collision with the environment. This correspondence can also assist users in robot motion planning. The proposed interactive control system ensures that the robot end effector follows the desired path, while the robot shape is regulated based on visual feedback. Experiments are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.