Continuum Manipulator with Rubber Skin Layer including Pulling-wire Mechanism

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a method to fabricate a slim continuum manipulator by embedding pulling-wire mechanisms into a thin rubber layer formed around an elastic backbone of the manipulator without increasing its elasticity largely. Fundamental experimental results show that the continuum manipulator prototype based on the proposed method can achieve, not only bending on several planes on three-dimensional space by pulling its three wires appropriately, but also a 360-degree bending of its tip in some direction with forming non-constant curvature shape. It is also shown that a simple mathematical model can explain the linear relationship between the tip bending angle and the wire pulling distance which is verified experimentally.