Real-time computational model for visualizing compliant beam motion of a flexible mobile-sensing node

Rigid bodies are often connected by compliant elements. In the designs of these compliant mechanisms, actuators can be embedded in the rigid bodies to control the beam deformation. Motivated by the need to visualize the deformed beam shape of a flexible mobile-sensing node (FMN) mechanism in real-time operation to aid its human-guided navigation, this paper presents a discrete curvature-based beam model (CBM) taking into account the dynamics of the connecting rigid-body wheel assemblies in modeling the FMN and its solution as a function of path lengths. The wheel assemblies provide input forces to manipulate the bending/twisting of the compliant beam. With experimentally measured magnetic forces/torques contributed by the magnetic adhesion between the FMN and ferrous surface on which the FMN moves, the computational model with dynamic forces of the wheel assemblies as system inputs in global coordinates has been applied to develop a strategy to guide a magnetic-wheeled FMN crossing a change-of-plane corner in tight space.