A geometric approach towards inverse kinematics of soft extensible pneumatic actuators intended for trajectory tracking

Abstract: Soft robots are interesting examples of hyper-redundancy in robotics, however, the nonlinear continuous dynamics of these robots and the use of hyper-elastic and visco-elastic materials makes modeling of these robots more complicated. This study presents a geometric Inverse Kinematic (IK) model for trajectory tracking of multi-segment extensible soft robots, where, each segment of the soft actuator is geometrically approximated with multiple rigid links connected with rotary and prismatic joints. Using optimization methods, the desired configuration variables of the soft actuator for the desired end-effector positions are obtained. Also, the redundancy of the robot is applied for second task applications, such as tip angle control. The model's performance is investigated through simulations, numerical benchmarks, and experimental validations and results show lower computational costs and higher accuracy compared to most existing methods. The method is easy to apply to multi segment soft robots, both in 2D and 3D. As a case study, a fully 3D-printed soft robot manipulator is tested using a control unit and the model predictions show good agreement with the experimental results.