Simultaneous Estimation of Shape and Body Contact Force for Continuum Robots Under Mixed External Geometric...

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Medical Robotics
• Control Systems

Background:

• Continuum surgical robots face challenges in simultaneous shape and contact force estimation due to limited sensing and complex environments.
• Accurate state estimation is crucial for precise control and safe operation of these deformable robots.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel state estimation approach for simultaneous shape and contact force estimation in miniature continuum surgical robots.
• To address the complexities of internal dynamics and external environmental interactions, including multiple contacts.

Main Methods:

• Integration of a quaternion-based multicontact Cosserat model with contact force regularization.
• Reformulation of the state estimation as a nonlinear large-scale optimization problem.
• Utilizing minimum shape measurement input (tip position) for estimation.

Main Results:

• The proposed approach accurately estimates both shape and contact forces simultaneously.
• The method accounts for internal robot dynamics (actuation, friction, nonlinearity) and complex environmental contacts (point, plane, curved surfaces).
• Validated through simulations and experiments on a cable-driven continuum robot, achieving accuracy comparable to state-of-the-art methods.

Conclusions:

• The developed state estimation method enhances the capabilities of continuum surgical robots.
• This approach improves robustness and accuracy in complex surgical scenarios.
• It provides a foundation for more sophisticated control and interaction for surgical robots.