FORWARD KINEMATIC MODELING OF CONSTANT CURVATURE CONTINUUM ROBOTS USING DUAL QUATERNIONS

Abstract

Different approaches have been applied to derive the kinematics of continuum
\nrobots with the assumption of piecewise constant curvature. Despite all these approaches produce
\nidentical results and can be reduced to the homogeneous transformation matrix, a particular
\napproach could result to be preferable among the others, with respect to the actual
\nnumerical application, thanks to the characteristics of its mathematical formulation. In this
\npaper the above mentioned kinematics is approached through the use of dual quaternions. The
\nresulting formulation offers remarkable characteristics of compactness and numerical efficiency
\ncompared with those of the homogeneous transformation matrix.