Design, Control and Analysis of a Dualarm Continuum Flexible Robot System Multiarm flexible robot can cooperate with each other to achieve complex surgical actions during operation. In this paper, we propose the mechanical structure design, control and analysis of a dualarm continuum flexible robot for surgical task that needs multitools cooperation. The movement of a single arm is controlled by a set of flexible wires. The two arms work together under control of a remote device to perform actions such as gripping and cutting, which cannot be done with single arm. Kinematic model of the flexible arm has been established. Accuracy of the motion has been tested and verified. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system.

Closed Loop Control of a Continuum Surgical Manipulator for Improved Absolute Positioning Accuracy Robotic assistance in MIS (Minimally Invasive Surgery) has attracted worldwide attention in the past decades. Even though majority of the implemented robotic surgical manipulators have articulated structures, continuum structures have been more widely applied due to their advantages of intraabdominal dexterity and safe interaction with anatomy. However, absolute positioning accuracy of a continuum surgical manipulator can be low due to its nonlinear bending behaviors under different loads and unmodeled manufacturing clearance. This paper hence presents a proofofconcept investigation of closed loop control scheme for improving the manipulatorxe2x80x99s absolute positioning accuracy. System descriptions, kinematics modeling and experimental validations are reported in detail to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.