FULL COMPLIANT CONTINUUM ROBOTIC FINGER AND ITS KINEMATIC MODEL

Abstract

Different from the traditional rigid robots made by hard material such as metal,continuum robots are bionic mechanisms which feature high compliance and continuous shapechangingability. A full compliant continuum robotic finger is proposed, which is driven by thecompressed air inside its silicon rubber chamber and has a certain degree of grasping rigidity. Bythe moment equilibrium analysis, the mathematical model for the inside compressed air pressureand the bending angle of the finger is established. The kinematic Cartesian coordinates for theproposed continuum robotic finger are constructed based on the D-H method. Then the kinematicmodel is derived. Simulation and experimental results showed that the proposed full compliantcontinuum robotic finger has abilities of continuous compliant shape-changing and movement, andthe established kinematic model can describe the finger's movement process and itscharacteristics.