Dynamic Control for a Class of Continuum Robotic Arms

The paper deals with the control problem of a class of hyper-redundant robots constituted by a chain of continuum segments. The main parameter, the system state, is determined by the position and velocity generalised variables. The dynamic model is studied and the constraints of the state variables and nonlinear components are proved. The observability problems are solved by an approach derived from the Luenberger observer type extended for this class of non-linear distributed models. The inequality constraints on the gravitational components allow to introduce a decoupled control system. A PD boundary control algorithm is used in order to achieve a desired shape of the arm. The stability analysis and the resulting controllers are obtained using Liapunov techniques. The exponential stability of the (error-observer) system was proved. The constraints on the observer and controller gains are analysed. Experimental tests verify the effectiveness of the presented techniques.