Ian D. Walker, Howie Choset and Gregory S. Chirikjian
This chapter provides an overview of the state of the art of snake-like (backbones comprised of many small links) and continuum (continuous backbone) robots. The history of each of these classes of robot is reviewed, focusing on key hardware developments. A review of the existing theory and algorithms for kinematics for both types of robot is presented, followed by a summary ofmodeling of locomotion for snake-like and continuum mechanisms.
RDP experimental results
Author Nabil Simaan
Video ID : 247
Demonstrates a prototype system for transurethral bladder cancer resection. This robot has a 5 mm snake with two segments and three working channels including a custom-made fiberscope, laser ablation and a gripper [1-3].
References:
[1] A. Bajo, R. B. Pickens, S. D. Herrell, N. Simaan: A pilot ex-vivo evaluation of a telerobotic system for transurethral intervention and surveillance, The 5th Hamlyn Symp. Medical Robotics (2012), pp. 3-4;
[2] A. Bajo, R. B. Pickens, S. D. Herrell, N. Simaan: Constrained motion control of multisegment continuum robots for transurethral bladder resection and surveillance, Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Robot. Autom. (ICRA), Karlsruhe (2013), pp. 5817-5822;
[3] R. E. Goldman, A. Bajo, L. S. MacLachlan, R. Pickens, S. D. Herrell, N. Simaan: Design and performance evaluation of a minimally invasive telerobotic platform for transurethral surveillance and intervention, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. 60(4), 918-925 (2013)