A Variable-Cross-Sectional Continuum Manipulator capable of grasping by whole-arm wrapping

Continuum manipulators have attracted great interest in recent years due to their excellent flexibility and dexterity, exhibiting great potentials in various applications. Most existing continuum manipulators have constant cross sections, which simplifies the design, fabrication, modeling and control. However, from the bionics’ view, constant cross sections are not rational, since most natural creatures that have continuum structures usually exhibit variable cross sections, such as the elephant trunk. This paper presented the structural design, kinetostatic modeling, prototype fabrication and experiment of a cable-driven continuum manipulator featured by variable cross sections. Results showed that the proposed manipulator’s repeated positioning error was 2.25mm. Furthermore, this manipulator could achieve grasping by whole-arm wrapping. This paper could be useful for the research of variable-cross-sectional continuum manipulators.