This work provides new methods for the kinematic modeling and control of soft, continuum manipulators based on the Finite Element Method. Contrary to the case of rigid manipulators, soft and continuum manipulators generate their motion by deformation, therefore, the proposed methodology accounts for the deformation mechanics to better describe the kinematics of these type of robots. This methodology does not produce analytic solutions, instead, a numerical approximation is provided by methods derived from Computational Mechanics. The methodology is applied to a continuum manipulator, namely, the Compact Bionic Handling Assistant (CBHA). A closed-loop control scheme based on control allocation is also presented. The models and controller are validated experimentally.
- Directeur(s) de thèse : Rochdi Merzouki, Christian Duriez - Rapporteurs : Véronique Perdereau, Kaspar Althoefer - Examinateurs : Vincent Cocquempot, Pushparaj Mani Pathak, Abdelaziz Benallegue
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