Dynamics of continuum and soft robots: a strain parametrization based approach

Frédéric Boyer (1, 2, 3) , Vincent Lebastard (1, 2, 3) , Fabien Candelier (4) , Federico Renda (5)

1 LS2N - Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes
2 LS2N - équipe ReV - Robotique Et Vivant
3 IMT Atlantique - DAPI - Département Automatique, Productique et Informatique
4 IUSTI - Institut universitaire des systèmes thermiques industriels
5 Khalifa University for Science Technology [Abou Dabi]

In this article we propose a new solution to the forward dynamics of Cosserat beams with in perspective, its application to continuum and soft robotics manipulation and locomotion. In contrast to usual approaches, it is based on the non-linear parametrization of the beam shape by its strain fields and their discretization on a functional basis of strain modes. While remaining geometrically exact, the approach provides a minimal set of ordinary differential equations in the usual Lagrange matrix form that can be solved with standard explicit time-integrators. Inspired from rigid robotics, the calculation of the matrices of the Lagrange model is performed with a continuous inverse Newton-Euler algorithm. The approach is tested on several numerical benches of non-linear structural statics, as well as further examples illustrating its capabilities for dynamics.

Domaines: Automatique / Robotique

Frédéric Boyer, Vincent Lebastard, Fabien Candelier, Federico Renda. Dynamics of continuum and soft robots: a strain parametrization based approach. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2020, ⟨10.1109/TRO.2020.3036618⟩. ⟨hal-02318617⟩