14 accepted papers
A pneumatic linear actuator is presented and evaluated. Designed to operate in demanding environments such as MRI, it is developed to be used with two motion control modes: 1) a step-by-step mode with tooth-based gripping to ensure precision, 2) a continuous mode available locally for fine positioni…
Non-rigidly foldable origamis are of great interest to build robotic components, as they are light, offer large deployability and can also be multistable. In this paper, we consider the Kresling tower, and propose an original way to actively modulate its kinetostatic properties. Actuated stiffening…
In this letter, the development of a method for the design of soft pneumatic actuators is described. The focus is given on the interest of using a deep learning model to explore the design space with a genetic algorithm. In particular, we propose to perform the automatic synthesis of the inner struc
Helical swimmers, actuated by low-strength uniform rotating magnetic fields, can develop swimming and pumping in low Reynolds number environments. They could play an important role for future in vitro and in vivo biomedical microrobotic tasks. Studying how their morphology influences swimming and pu
The use of untethered miniature swimmers is a promising trend, especially in biomedical applications. These swimmers are often operated remotely using a magnetic field commonly generated using fixed coils that can suffer from a lack of compactness and heating issues. The analysis of the swimming cap
Tensegrity mechanisms can offer key features such as compliance and deployability for high compactness. The absence of systematic design methods has however strongly limited their development for manipulation up to now. In this letter, we consider how tensegrity mechanisms can be designed to respect
This paper deals with an original combination of navigation by simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and follow-the-leader (FTL) deployment for the control of concentric tube robots (CTRs). The objective is to make possible the automatic navigation of such continuum robots within an anatomica
Robotization of medical acts often requires the evaluation of contacts between a robotic system and a patient, for safety or efficiency reasons. When contact occurs with a stiff environment, instabilities and vibrations can appear and a passive compliance is therefore needed. In this paper, we propo…
In this paper, we describe the use of calibration techniques to help improving prediction accuracy of models for soft actuators. A finite-difference model considering anisotropy of soft actuator flexible chamber is combined with experimental identification to assess actuator motion. Identifiability…
Magnetic continuum robots (m-CR) have grown interest in several applicative contexts that take benefits from their high flexibility and remote control. When submitted to external magnetic fields, m-CR exhibit large elastic deformations, which may lead to a highly nonlinear and complex behavior that
This letter discusses the development of a mosaicking algorithm for building large- and high-resolution confocal images. Due to the nature of optics and vision systems in general, there is still a dilemma between choosing a wide field-of-view and high resolution. The most accepted solution is to opt
In this paper, we propose to take advantage of concentric tube robots (CTR) properties to design a robotic system for optical biopsies with fiber-based imaging modalities. Follow-the-leader (FTL) deployment, with CTR body following its tip, is being integrated as a design constraint in order to mini…
In this paper, the design of a new variable stiffness spherical joint for MR-compatible robotics is presented. It is based on the use of prestressed cable-driven mechanisms in singular configurations to provide large stiffness variation ranges, including zero stiffness configuration as required by t
In this paper, a new multifunctional compliant joint is introduced for the design of unibody robotic mechanisms. Developed in the demanding context of interventional MRI, the compliant joint integrates kinematic, actuation, braking and sensing functions. Such integration is performed thanks to multi…