Abstract: For detecting the movement shape of pneumatic soft manipulators, a kinematic parameter detection device was designed with a measure structure of three wires based on wire-drawing encoders. According to piece-wise constant curvature method, the motion detection model was established for soft manipulator with pneumatic modularization. Based on flexible material characteristics of manipulators, the stiffness method was introduced to derive the map from actuation pressure to configuration shape and kinematic parameters precisely. A novel soft manipulator with pneumatic modularization was presented to verify the accuracy of modelling and the device. The presented manipulator was consisted of silicon backbone, motion chambers and connecting plates for modularizing assembly. The relative errors of motion detection model were obtained via derivation and simulation. Finally, the accuracy of modelling and the features of manipulator in actuation, configuration and movement were verified by tests. The results showed that compared with traditional visual tracking method, the designed device achieved the highly precise detection for movement shapes of soft manipulators.

Key words: soft manipulator, modular design, piece-wise constant curvature method, motion detection

摘要： 针对气动软体机械臂运动形状检测问题，设计了一种基于拉线编码器的三组测量绳结构的运动学参数检测装置。依据分段常曲率法，构建了气动模块化软体机械臂的运动检测模型，基于机械臂柔性材料的特点，在建模过程中引入刚度法，使检测模型能准确反映从机械臂驱动气压到形状变化以及运动学参数的映射关系。提出了一种可模块化组装的气动软体机械臂，用于验证检测装置与模型的精度，所提出的机械臂在构型上由硅胶基体、运动气囊和连接板组成，能实现机械臂的模块化组装。通过对所构建的运动检测模型进行推导与仿真，得到了模型的相对误差。最后，通过试验验证了运动检测建模的精度和机械臂驱动、构型以及运动的特征。研究结果表明：相比于传统的视觉追踪方法，所设计的基于三组测量绳结构的检测装置能实现对软体机械臂运动形状的高精度检测。

关键词: 软体机械臂, 模块化设计, 分段常曲率法, 运动检测