Kinetostatic and Cable-Hole Friction Modeling for Cable-Driven Continuum Robots.

As one of the novel bionic robots, cable-driven continuum robot (CDCR) has a talent for compliance and dexterity in operations of narrow environments. However, due to its hyper-redundant structure, it is challenging to establish a precise model to estimate its morphology. Especially the cable-hole friction modeling for such a CDCR, which plays an essential role in its morphology estimate. In this study, we first establish the kinetostatics of the CDCR based on previous work. And then, we deduce two cable-hole friction models based on the Coulomb friction theory and the Capstan friction model, respectively. Finally, experimental validation is performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The results indicate that the proposed kinetostatics with the two friction models can precisely characterize the morphology of the CDCR. The average morphology estimate errors of them are 5.05 mm and 4.79 mm, accounting for 2.63% and 2.49% of the manipulator length.