Design and Modelling of Tendon-Driven Continuum Robots Based on Pseudo-Rigid Body and Constraint Analysis

This research explores the design and modelling of tendon-driven continuum robots to improve performance in manipulation tasks. The key research contributions reported are: First, a novel continuum robot design that maintains the orientation of the end effector is proposed and built. Second, a quasi-static model of a planar tendon-driven continuum robot is investigated using the Pseudo-Rigid Body representation and constraint analysis approach. Third, a tendon-driven continuum robot is modelled by adapting the concept of deforming the control points of a Pythagorean Hodograph Curve.