Control architecture for robots with continuum arms inspired by octopus vulgaris neurophysiology

Conventional rigid body robots typically use few degrees of freedom (DOF). This results in a manipulator that lacks flexibility and maneuverability when compared to continuum robots that utilize a much higher number of DOF. However, due to their continuous nature, the difficulty of measuring and controlling a large number of actuated DOF, and their high degree of nonlinearity, the development of control algorithms for continuum robot manipulators is an ongoing challenge. This paper presents an algorithm inspired by biological solutions from live octopus that utilizes division of functionality to achieve simple and robust control of continuum arm based systems. Simulated results for single and multiple dynamic continuum arms show the controller is capable of producing motions similar to that of octopus. The resulting controller is also computationally efficient enough for real-time implementation. In future this work will be implemented on a prototype robot with multiple continuum arms.