Visual-Servo Based End-Effector Control for Continuum Robots

Delicate manipulation for continuum robots remains challenging. The key is to establish a motion controller with real-time perception, fast response, and high precision. Integrating visual sensors into the system can enhance the precision of end position control while minimizing uncertainties in the robot model. In this paper, a depth camera is used to identify the Aruco code to provide pose information to the continuum robot. Then the end-effector is controlled to achieve horizontal linear displacement and plug into a socket based on the pose information. Based on experimental findings, it has been demonstrated that the control accuracy can achieve a level of precision in the centimeter range. The presented methods expand the potential scenarios of the continuum robot.