Model-free Position Control of a Soft Continuum Manipulator in Cartesian Space

Abstract

This work investigates the position control in Cartesian space of a soft continuum manipulator with pneumatic actuation. To this end, we employ a feedback integral action initialized using an optimized mapping between pressure and tip position. This approach is detailed for a manipulator consisting of either a single actuated segment or of two actuated segments connected in series. Experiments are conducted on individual prototypes and with a teleoperation setup including a master unit from our track record.