Continuous backbone robots driven by cables have many potential applications in dexterous manipulation for manufacturing and space environments. Design of these robots requires specification of a stiff yet bendable backbone, selection of cable support heights and spacings, and development of a cable drive system. The robot arm divides into sections that are subdivided into segments bounded by cable supports. Cable pairs attach to the end of each section and provide two axis bending. Thus, with many sections, the arm can be bent into complex shapes to allow redundant positioning of the end effector payload. The kinematics of the entire arm are determined from the segment kinematics. This paper derives and numerically solves the nonlinear kinematics for a single segment of a continuous backbone robot. Optimal spacing of the cable supports maximizes displacement, load capacity, and simplicity of the robot kinematics. An experimental system verifies the theoretically predicted performance.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
June 2002
Technical Papers
Design of Continuous Backbone, Cable-Driven Robots
Changquing Li, Graduate Student,
Changquing Li, Graduate Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634
Search for other works by this author on:
Christopher D. Rahn, Mem. ASME, Associate Professor
Christopher D. Rahn, Mem. ASME, Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Search for other works by this author on:
Changquing Li, Graduate Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634
Christopher D. Rahn, Mem. ASME, Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Contributed by the Mechanisms Committee for publication in the JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN. Manuscript received June 2000; Associate Editor: J. S. Rastegar.
J. Mech. Des. Jun 2002, 124(2): 265-271 (7 pages)
Published Online: May 16, 2002
Article history
Received:
June 1, 2000
Online:
May 16, 2002
Citation
Li, C., and Rahn, C. D. (May 16, 2002). "Design of Continuous Backbone, Cable-Driven Robots ." ASME. J. Mech. Des. June 2002; 124(2): 265–271. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1447546
Download citation file:
Get Email Alerts
Large Language Models for Predicting Empathic Accuracy Between a Designer and a User
J. Mech. Des (April 2025)
Repurposing as a Decommissioning Strategy for Complex Systems: A Systematic Review
J. Mech. Des (May 2025)
A Dataset Generation Framework for Symmetry-Induced Mechanical Metamaterials
J. Mech. Des (April 2025)
Related Articles
Task-Specific Multiple-Arm Minimally Invasive Surgical Device Design Using Cooperative Kinematic Isotropy Indices
J. Med. Devices (June,2011)
Geometric Design of Linkages
J. Mech. Des (December,2000)
A Coordinate Frame Useful for Rigid-Body Displacement Metrics
J. Mechanisms Robotics (November,2010)
New 3-DOFs Hybrid Mechanism for Ankle and Wrist of Humanoid Robot: Modeling, Simulation, and Experiments
J. Mech. Des (February,2011)
Related Proceedings Papers
A Different Kinematic Model of the Tricept Robot
IDETC-CIE2002
Related Chapters
Mechanical Design Challenges in Rescue Robot Prototyping
Designs and Prototypes of Mobile Robots
Dynamic Analysis of Cable-Actuated Parallel Robot with Variable Mass System
International Conference on Advanced Computer Theory and Engineering, 4th (ICACTE 2011)
A Vision-Based Kinematic Calibration for Pick-and-Place Robot
International Conference on Information Technology and Management Engineering (ITME 2011)