Modeling, Analysis, Force Sensing and Control of Continuum Robots for Minimally Invasive Surgery

This dissertation describes design, modeling and application of continuum robotics for surgical applications, specifically parallel continuum robots (PCRs) and concentric tube manipulators (CTMs). The introduction of robotics into surgical applications has allowed for a greater degree of precision, less invasive access to more remote surgical sites, and user-intuitive interfaces with enhanced vision systems. The most recent developments have been in the space of continuum robots, whose exible structure create an inherent safety factor when in contact with fragile tissues. The design challenges that exist involve balancing size and strength of the manipulators, controlling the manipulators over long transmission pathways, and incorporating force sensing and feedback from the manipulators to the user. Contributions presented in this work include: (1) prototyping, design, force sensing, and force control investigations of PCRs, and (2) prototyping of a concentric tube manipulator for use in a standard colonoscope. A general kinetostatic model is presented for PCRs along with identification of multiple physical constraints encountered in design and construction. Design considerations and manipulator capabilities are examined in the form of matrix metrics and ellipsoid representations. Finally, force sensing and control are explored and experimental results are provided showing the accuracy of force estimates based on actuation force measurements and control capabilities. An overview of the design requirements, manipulator construction, analysis and experimental results are provided for a CTM used as a tool manipulator in a traditional colonoscope. Currently, tools used in colonoscopic procedures are straight and exit the front of the scope with 1 DOF of operation (jaws of a grasper, tightening of a loop, etc.). This research shows that with a CTM deployed, the dexterity of these tools can be increased dramatically, increasing accuracy of tool operation, ease of use and safety of the overall procedure. The prototype investigated in this work allows for multiple tools to be used during a single procedure. Experimental results show the feasibility and advantages of the newly-designed manipulators

Parallel Manipulators

In recent years, parallel kinematics mechanisms have attracted a lot of attention from the academic and industrial communities due to potential applications not only as robot manipulators but also as machine tools. Generally, the criteria used to compare the performance of traditional serial robots and parallel robots are the workspace, the ratio between the payload and the robot mass, accuracy, and dynamic behaviour. In addition to the reduced coupling effect between joints, parallel robots bring the benefits of much higher payload-robot mass ratios, superior accuracy and greater stiffness; qualities which lead to better dynamic performance. The main drawback with parallel robots is the relatively small workspace. A great deal of research on parallel robots has been carried out worldwide, and a large number of parallel mechanism systems have been built for various applications, such as remote handling, machine tools, medical robots, simulators, micro-robots, and humanoid robots. This book opens a window to exceptional research and development work on parallel mechanisms contributed by authors from around the world. Through this window the reader can get a good view of current parallel robot research and applications

Paralleelmehhanismide kinetostaatiliste jõudlusindeksite uuring ning võrdlus

Nii kaua, kui on kasutusel olnud robotid, on käinud teadusuuringud nende kasutamiseks ning töö optimeerimiseks meie igapäevases elus. Samal ajal, kui meie teadmised robotite teemal on suuresti arenenud, on kasvanud ka vastavate struktuuride keerukus. Seega on arendatud mitmeid meetodeid ja indekseid, aitamaks disaneritel ning inseneridel välja selgitada parimad seadmed vastavate ülesannete lahendamiseks. Lisaks on huvi paralleelmehhanismide suunas viimaste aastate jooksul märgatavalt kasvanud. Peamiseks põhjuseks on paljudes valdkondades märgatavalt parem sooritusvõime võrreldes seriaalmanipulaatoritega. Ometi pole arendatud veel ühtegi globaalset jõudlusindeksit, mis võimaldaks täpsuse perspektiivis paralleelmanipulaatorite omavahelise võrdluse. Käesoleva lõputöö fookuseks on kintestaatilise jõuldusindeksi arendustööst ülevaate pakkumine. Uuritav indeks peab robustselt suutma hinnata läbi vastava indeksi paralleelmanipulaatorite täpsust.For as long as we have used robots there has also been ongoing research to allow us to use and improve efficiency of automation in our daily lives. As our knowledge about robots has largely improved, so has the complexity of their structures. Thus, various methods and indices have been developed to help designers and engineers determine the best manipulator for a specific task. In addition, the interest towards parallel manipulators has seen growth in the last couple of years due to significantly better performance in various areas in comparison to serial mechanisms. However, no global performance index to evaluate accuracy and allow comparison in that perspective between parallel mechanisms has been developed. This thesis focuses on giving an overview on the developments towards finding a robust kinematic sensitivity index to measure accuracy performance of parallel manipulators

Kinematics and Robot Design I, KaRD2018

This volume collects the papers published on the Special Issue “Kinematics and Robot Design I, KaRD2018” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/robotics/special_issues/KARD), which is the first issue of the KaRD Special Issue series, hosted by the open access journal “MDPI Robotics”. The KaRD series aims at creating an open environment where researchers can present their works and discuss all the topics focused on the many aspects that involve kinematics in the design of robotic/automatic systems. Kinematics is so intimately related to the design of robotic/automatic systems that the admitted topics of the KaRD series practically cover all the subjects normally present in well-established international conferences on “mechanisms and robotics”. KaRD2018 received 22 papers and, after the peer-review process, accepted only 14 papers. The accepted papers cover some theoretical and many design/applicative aspects

Modeling, Control and Estimation of Reconfigurable Cable Driven Parallel Robots

The motivation for this thesis was to develop a cable-driven parallel robot (CDPR) as part of a two-part robotic device for concrete 3D printing. This research addresses specific research questions in this domain, chiefly, to present advantages offered by the addition of kinematic redundancies to CDPRs. Due to the natural actuation redundancy present in a fully constrained CDPR, the addition of internal mobility offers complex challenges in modeling and control that are not often encountered in literature. This work presents a systematic analysis of modeling such kinematic redundancies through the application of reciprocal screw theory (RST) and Lie algebra while further introducing specific challenges and drawbacks presented by cable driven actuators. It further re-contextualizes well-known performance indices such as manipulability, wrench closure quality, and the available wrench set for application with reconfigurable CDPRs. The existence of both internal redundancy and static redundancy in the joint space offers a large subspace of valid solutions that can be condensed through the selection of appropriate objective priorities, constraints or cost functions. Traditional approaches to such redundancy resolution necessitate computationally expensive numerical optimization. The control of both kinematic and actuation redundancies requires cascaded control frameworks that cannot easily be applied towards real-time control. The selected cost functions for numerical optimization of rCDPRs can be globally (and sometimes locally) non-convex. In this work we present two applied examples of redundancy resolution control that are unique to rCDPRs. In the first example, we maximize the directional wrench ability at the end-effector while minimizing the joint torque requirement by utilizing the fitness of the available wrench set as a constraint over wrench feasibility. The second example focuses on directional stiffness maximization at the end-effector through a variable stiffness module (VSM) that partially decouples the tension and stiffness. The VSM introduces an additional degrees of freedom to the system in order to manipulate both reconfigurability and cable stiffness independently. The controllers in the above examples were designed with kinematic models, but most CDPRs are highly dynamic systems which can require challenging feedback control frameworks. An approach to real-time dynamic control was implemented in this thesis by incorporating a learning-based frameworks through deep reinforcement learning. Three approaches to rCDPR training were attempted utilizing model-free TD3 networks. Robustness and safety are critical features for robot development. One of the main causes of robot failure in CDPRs is due to cable breakage. This not only causes dangerous dynamic oscillations in the workspace, but also leads to total robot failure if the controllability (due to lack of cables) is lost. Fortunately, rCDPRs can be utilized towards failure tolerant control for task recovery. The kinematically redundant joints can be utilized to help recover the lost degrees of freedom due to cable failure. This work applies a Multi-Model Adaptive Estimation (MMAE) framework to enable online and automatic objective reprioritization and actuator retasking. The likelihood of cable failure(s) from the estimator informs the mixing of the control inputs from a bank of feedforward controllers. In traditional rigid body robots, safety procedures generally involve a standard emergency stop procedure such as actuator locking. Due to the flexibility of cable links, the dynamic oscillations of the end-effector due to cable failure must be actively dampened. This work incorporates a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) based feedback stabilizer into the failure tolerant control framework that works to stabilize the non-linear system and dampen out these oscillations. This research contributes to a growing, but hitherto niche body of work in reconfigurable cable driven parallel manipulators. Some outcomes of the multiple engineering design, control and estimation challenges addressed in this research warrant further exploration and study that are beyond the scope of this thesis. This thesis concludes with a thorough discussion of the advantages and limitations of the presented work and avenues for further research that may be of interest to continuing scholars in the community

Dynamic modelling and simulation of a cable-driven parallel robot for rehabilitation applications

The aim of this work, in collaboration with the ROAR Lab of the Columbia University in the city of New York, is to build a simulation model of a new cable-driven parallel robot for rehabilitation applications, being able to compute the effort given by the patient while the system is working on him/her. The model was built on a multi-body dynamic software called Adams, which is able to simulate the behavior of the mechanism. Some theoretical issues about cable-driven parallel robots will be described, in order to familiarize with the application and introduce the state of the art of the topic. General foundations, dealing with kinematics, statics, dynamics will be detailed and a short introduction to control will be given. In the second chapter, a brief overview of the state of the art regarding rehabilitation cable-driven robotics will be outlined, first dealing with general applications possible to be found in literature, and then introducing the Columbia University work about this particular topic, with several examples and cutting edge devices. The third chapter is about the design description of the Stand Trainer, a 8-cable-driven parallel robot used for rehabilitation. Its mechanical system is introduced, while dealing especially with the issue of computing the cable tensions and the way it can be done in terms of sensors positioning. A new way of tension measurement will be explained. It will take the place of the previous one, bringing several advantages to the system. The last chapter deals with the dynamic simulations on Adams. After having introduced all the simplifications regarding three different models, an accurate description of them will be given and their comparison with the real device will be outlined. The post-process activity will be carried out explaining and discussing the final results. Finally, different points for future developments will be discussed, showing the novelty of this approach for rehabilitative treatments and applications

Low Mobility Cable Robot with Application to Robotic Warehousing

Cable-based robots consist of a rigid mobile platform connected via flexible links (cables, wires, tendons) to a surrounding static platform. The use of cables simplifies the mechanical structure and reduces the inertia, allowing the mobile platform to reach high motion acceleration in large workspaces. These attributes give, in principle, an advantage over conventional robots used for industrial applications, such as the pick and place of objects inside factories or similar exterior large workspaces. However, unique cable properties involve new theoretical and technical challenges: all cables must be in tension to avoid collapse of the mobile platform. In addition, positive tensions applied to cables may affect the overall stiffness, that is, cable stretch might result in unacceptable oscillations of the mobile platform. Fully constrained cable-based robots can be distinguished from other types of cable-based robots because the motion and force generation of the mobile platform is accomplished by controlling both the cable lengths and the positive cable tensions. Fully constrained cable-based robots depend on actuator redundancy, that is, the addition of one or more actuated cables than end-effector degrees of freedom. Redundancy has proved to be beneficial to expand the workspace, remove some types of singularities, increase the overall stiffness, and support high payloads in several proposed cable-based robot designs. Nevertheless, this strategy demands the development of efficient controller designs for real-time applications. This research deals with the design and control of a fully constrained cable-based parallel manipulator for large-scale high-speed warehousing applications. To accomplish the design of the robot, a well-ordered procedure to analyze the cable tensions, stiffness and workspace will be presented to obtain an optimum structure. Then, the control problem will be investigated to deal with the redundancy solution and all-positive cable tension condition. The proposed control method will be evaluated through simulation and experimentation in a prototype manufactured for testing

Enhanced stiffness modeling of manipulators with passive joints

The paper presents a methodology to enhance the stiffness analysis of serial and parallel manipulators with passive joints. It directly takes into account the loading influence on the manipulator configuration and, consequently, on its Jacobians and Hessians. The main contributions of this paper are the introduction of a non-linear stiffness model for the manipulators with passive joints, a relevant numerical technique for its linearization and computing of the Cartesian stiffness matrix which allows rank-deficiency. Within the developed technique, the manipulator elements are presented as pseudo-rigid bodies separated by multidimensional virtual springs and perfect passive joints. Simulation examples are presented that deal with parallel manipulators of the Ortholide family and demonstrate the ability of the developed methodology to describe non-linear behavior of the manipulator structure such as a sudden change of the elastic instability properties (buckling)

On the Statics, Dynamics, and Stability of Continuum Robots: Model Formulations and Efficient Computational Schemes

This dissertation presents advances in continuum-robotic mathematical-modeling techniques. Specifically, problems of statics, dynamics, and stability are studied for robots with slender elastic links. The general procedure within each topic is to develop a continuous theory describing robot behavior, develop a discretization strategy to enable simulation and control, and to validate simulation predictions against experimental results.Chapter 1 introduces the basic concept of continuum robotics and reviews progress in the field. It also introduces the mathematical modeling used to describe continuum robots and explains some notation used throughout the dissertation.The derivation of Cosserat rod statics, the coupling of rods to form a parallel continuum robot (PCR), and solution of the kinematics problem are reviewed in Chapter 2. With this foundation, soft real-time teleoperation of a PCR is demonstrated and a miniature prototype robot with a grasper is controlled.Chapter 3 reviews the derivation of Cosserat rod dynamics and presents a discretization strategy having several desirable features, such as generality, accuracy, and potential for good computational efficiency. The discretized rod model is validated experimentally using high speed camera footage of a cantilevered rod. The discretization strategy is then applied to simulate continuum robot dynamics for several classes of robot, including PCRs, tendon-driven robots, fluidic actuators, and concentric tube robots.In Chapter 4, the stability of a PCR is analyzed using optimal control theory. Conditions of stability are gradually developed starting from a single planar rod and finally arriving at a stability test for parallel continuum robots. The approach is experimentally validated using a camera tracking system.Chapter 5 provides closing discussion and proposes potential future work