Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Canon U.s.a., Inc.

The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.

Hidekazu Kose

Kiyoshi Takagi

Takahisa Kato

Nobuhiko Hata

Yusuke Tanaka

Ichiro Okumura

A continuum robot includes: a first wire; a second wire; a distal guide configured to hold the first wire and the second wire; a proximal guide slidable relative to the first wire and the second wire; a plurality of wire guides provided between the distal guide and the proximal guide; a driving unit configured to drive the first wire and the second wire; and a control unit configured to control the driving unit. The first wire is fixed to the plurality of wire guides, the second wire is slidable relative to the plurality of wire guides, and the control unit controls the driving unit so as to keep a distance between the proximal guide and a wire guide among the plurality of wire guides provided nearest to the proximal guide constant.

Continuum robot and continuum robot control system

A continuum robot control device, configured to control operations of a continuum robot having a bendable portion that is bent by driving at least part of a plurality of wires, includes a kinematics computing unit that computes a driving amount lof the at least part of the plurality of wires, based on a target bending angle that is a target value for a bending angle of the bendable portion, a compensation amount computing unit that computes a compensation amount for compensation of the driving amount l, based on the target bending angle, and a displacement of one of the plurality of wires at the target bending angle, and an adding unit and position control unit that set a driving control amount of performing driving control of the at least part of the plurality of wires, based on the driving amount and the compensation amount obtained by computation.

Continuum robot control device, continuum robot control method, and program

A control system for a continuum robot includes a kinematics calculation unit configured to calculate a length of a wire in a bendable portion. The kinematics calculation unit includes a wire length calculation unit configured to calculate, for each of a plurality of minute sections obtained by dividing the bendable portion in a longitudinal direction thereof, a length of the wire in the minute section based on a bending angle, a turning angle, and a torsional angle of the minute section, and an addition unit configured to add the lengths of the wire in the plurality of minute sections obtained by the wire length calculation unit to calculate the length of the wire in the bendable portion.

Control system for continuum robot, control method for continuum robot, and storage medium

The present application relates to a flexible manipulator including at least one flexible member (bend) controlled by an input device in the form of a joystick. Specifically, to prevent the flexible manipulator inserted into a narrow space from contacting surrounding objects, the flexible manipulator according to the present invention is configured to maintain the shape when the operator releases the joystick. However, when the flexible manipulator is shaped to be at a target position and subsequently needs to be returned to the original shape, the operator manipulates the joystick using complicated and time consuming manipulation techniques. A control device in communication with the flexible manipulator is configured to allow the operator to select an input method for maintaining the shape of the flexible manipulator after the joystick is released. In addition, an input method for returning the flexible manipulator to the original shape may be selected. This enables the operator to use an appropriate input method in accordance with the purpose of a medical procedure.

Method for controlling a flexible manipulator

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for controlling a flexible manipulator including a plurality of bendable mechanisms via a control apparatus. The control apparatus includes a drive-mode selecting unit allows for the selection of a movement mode which may provide a bending movement, an angled view movement, or a remote center movement.

Method and apparatus for controlling manipulator

An apparatus including a tendon-driven device such as an endoscope comprising a bendable body, a tendon attached to and extending a length of said body, and an actuator that will actuate said tendon based on a control signal from a controller. The controller is configured to send said control signal to said actuator and comprises a forward-kinematic-mapping unit that estimates an angular displacement, wherein the kinematic-mapping unit is configured for: providing a tension value of the tendon to obtain a desired angular displacement wherein the tension has a nonlinear relationship with the desired angular displacement based on information of friction where the tension is greater that would be calculated without including the effect of friction. The friction coefficient may be determined as it changes over time.

Control apparatus and tendon-driven device

Provided is a control apparatus for a continuum robot system includes: a continuum robot (), which includes a plurality of curvable portions () provided in series in a longitudinal axial direction thereof and each being curvable, and is capable of being moved in the longitudinal axial direction; a drive unit () configured to move the continuum robot () in the longitudinal axial direction; and a plurality of angle control motors () configured to change a distal-end angle (&#x3b8;, &#x3b8;) for each of the plurality of curvable portions (). The control apparatus includes a drive unit speed calculation/control unit () configured to calculate a followable speed, and to control the drive unit (). The drive unit speed calculation/control unit () controls the drive unit () to move the continuum robot at a speed equal to or lower than the followable speed.

Control apparatus for a continuum robot system

Provided are a robot and a robot control method in which highly accurate positioning of a link is enabled without losing flexibility of a joint.

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Tokyo, Japan

Hidekazu Kose