• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.301-308
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• 2020

In this paper, we deal with the static modeling of a continuum robot that can perform surgical interventions. The proposed continuum robot is made of stainless steel wires and a multi lumen flexible tube using a thermoplastic elastomer. This continuum robot could be most severely deformed in physical contact with narrow external environments, when a lateral external force acts at the distal tip of the continuum robot. In order to predict the shape and displacement under the lateral external force loading, the forward kinematics, the statics modeling, the force-moment equilibrium equation, and the virtual work-energy method of the continuum robot are described. The deflection displacements were calculated using the virtual work-energy method, and the results were compared with the displacement obtained by the conventional cantilever beam theories. In conclusion, the proposed static modeling and the virtual work-energy method can be used in arrhythmia procedure simulations.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 2008

This work deals with a 4-DOF flexible continuum robot that employs a spring as its backbone. The mechanism consists of two modules and each module has 2 DOF. The special features of the proposed mechanism are the flexibility and the backdrivability of the whole body by using a spring backbone. Thus, even in the case of collision with human body, this device can ensure safety. The design and the kinematics for this continuum mechanism are introduced. The performance of this continuum mechanism was shown through simulation and experiment.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.289-296
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• 2016

This study presents the kinematics of an intrinsic continuum robot actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles. The single section of a developed continuum robot consisted of three muscles in parallel. The contraction of each muscle according to applied air pressure produced spatial motions of a distal plate with respect to a base plate. Based on the bending behaviors of artificial muscles, the orientation and position of the end-effector of a continuum robot were formulated using a transformation matrix. The orientation and position was also determined for a single section of the distal plate. A Jacobian matrix relating the contraction rate or the pressure rate of the muscles to the velocity vector of the end-effector was calculated considering the assembled position of actuators between neighboring sections of the robot. Experimental results showed that the motions of the intrinsic continuum robot were accurately estimated by the proposed kinematics.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.361-367
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• 2015

This paper presents the design concept of an intrinsic continuum robot for safe man-machine interface and characteristic behaviors of its end-effector based on real experiments. Since pneumatic artificial muscles having similar antagonistic actuation to human muscles are used for main backbones of the proposed robot as well as in the role of the actuating devices, variable stiffness of robotic joints can be available in the actual environment. In order to solve the inherent shortcoming of an intrinsic continuum robot due to bending motion of the backbone materials, a Kalman filter scheme based on a triaxial accelerometer and a triaxial gyroscope was proposed to conduct an attitude estimation of the end-effector of the robot. The experimental results verified that the proposed method was effective in estimating the attitude of the end-effector of the intrinsic continuum robot.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.809-821
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• 2016

Concentric-tube continuum robots have formed an active field of research in robotics because of their manipulative exquisiteness essential to facilitate delicate surgical procedures. A set of concentric tubes with designed initial curvatures comprises a robot whose workspace can be controlled by relative translations and rotations of the tubes. Kinematic models have been widely used to predict the movement of the robot, but they are incapable of describing its time-dependent hysteretic behaviors accurately particularly when snapping occurs. To overcome this limitation, here we present a finite element modeling approach to investigating the dynamics of concentric-tube continuum robots. In our model, each tube is discretized using MITC shell elements and its transient responses are computed implicitly using the Bathe time integration method. Inter-tube contacts, the key actuation mechanism of this robot, are modeled using the constraint function method with contact damping to capture the hysteresis in robot trajectories. Performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by analyzing three specifications of two-tube robots including the one exhibiting snapping phenomena while the method can be applied to multiple-tube robots as well.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2014

In this study, an automated cable non-destructive testing(NDT) system was developed to monitor the steel cables that are a core component of cable-stayed bridges. The magnetic flux leakage(MFL) method, which is suitable for ferromagnetic continuum structures and has been verified in previous studies, was applied to the cable inspection. A multi-channel MFL sensor head was fabricated using hall sensors and permanent magnets. A wheel-based cable climbing robot was fabricated to improve the accessibility to the cables, and operating software was developed to monitor the MFL-based NDT research and control the climbing robot. Remote data transmission and robot control were realized by applying wireless LAN communication. Finally, the developed element techniques were integrated into an MFL-based cable NDT system, and the field applicability of this system was verified through a field test at Seohae Bridge, which is a typical cable-stayed bridge currently in operation.