Malleable Robots: Reconfigurable Robotic Arms with Continuum Links of Variable Stiffness

2025-02-06

arXiv.org

AI Summary

To address the technical bottleneck of collaborative robots—namely, their inability to simultaneously achieve flexibility and high manipulation accuracy under low degrees of freedom—this paper proposes a rigid–soft synergistic reconfigurable continuum manipulator. The method innovatively integrates a variable-stiffness continuum structure with a modular topological reconfiguration mechanism, realizing a hybrid variable-stiffness unit based on granular jamming and pneumatic actuation. Embedded strain sensing and real-time kinematic remapping algorithms enable dynamic stiffness modulation (response time < 120 ms) and adaptive configuration reconfiguration. Experimental validation in unstructured environments demonstrates successful multi-task execution—including grasping, puncturing, and obstacle circumvention—with an end-effector positioning accuracy of 0.3 mm. This work establishes a novel paradigm for lightweight, highly adaptive manufacturing automation, advancing the state of the art in continuum robotics for human–robot collaborative applications.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Mixed Discrete/Continuous Planning
• Humans and AI: Planning and Decision Support for Human-Machine Teams

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and multi-modal RAG
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI

Problem

• Develop malleable robots
• Achieve high dexterity
• Reduce actuators number

Innovation

• Adjustable stiffness architectures
• Lower mobility arms
• Reduced actuator count