Mechanics-based kinematic modeling of a continuum manipulator

A continuum manipulator with triangular notches is proposed for the potential medical applications, which is driven in the plane by wires embedded in bilateral symmetry channels. The focus of this present research is a mechanics-based kinematic model of the proposed continuum manipulator using the Timoshenko beam theory to map the driven load to the manipulator shape. In the proposed model, the continuum manipulator is divided into several V-shape units, each of which consists of two 2-node Timoshenko beam elements. Compared with previous approaches, our proposed model discards the constant curvature approximation, in which the distributed force caused by the interface contact between the wire and the V-shape unit is also considered simultaneously. The proposed mechanics model is validated experimentally on a segment of Nitinol flexible manipulator, which illustrates the effectiveness of our model to describe the continuum manipulator shaping.