Wire-Tension Feedback Control for Continuum Manipulator to Improve Load Manipulability Feature

Wire-driven continuum manipulators have excellent dexterity and higher payload capacity features in comparison with other types of manipulators taking flexible backbone structures. However, wire-driven continuum manipulators have an intrinsic issue in terms of holding wire-tension to prevent wire slacking and derailing. Therefore, in this research, we propose a new hybrid pre-tension mechanism device that prevents losing wire-tension and acts as a sensor to provide information about wire-tension to improve manipulator load manipulability features. Moreover, the proposed novel mechanism allows to predict robot shape and improves the control process. Several experiments conducted to prove the mechanism's effectiveness.