A Matlab-Internal DSL for Modelling Hybrid Rigid-Continuum Robots with TMTDyn

Abstract

Hybrid rigid-continuum robot design addresses a range of challenges associated with using soft robots in application areas such as robotic surgery. Design of such robots poses challenges beyond standard rigid-body robots. A fast, reliable, accurate yet simple dynamic model is important to support the design, analysis, and control of hybrid rigid-continuum robots. In our previous work, we developed a modeling package for hybrid rigid-continuum systems, named TMTDyn. In this paper, we focus on how we developed an internal domain-specific language (DSL) using Matlab's OO capabilities and the concept of fluent interfaces to improve validation, understandability, and maintainability of the models constructed using TMTDyn. We present the language implementation, and discuss some of the benefits and challenges of building a Matlab-internal DSL.