Robert J. Webster

TL;DR: This discussion elucidates what has been articulated in different ways by a number of researchers in the past several years, namely that constant-curvature kinematics can be considered as consisting of two separate submappings: one that is general and applies to all continuum robots, and another that is robot-specific.

TL;DR: In this paper, a surgical needle has a plurality of overlapping flexible tubes, each of which has a preformed curvature and a pre-determined flexibility, and each of the plurality of flexible tubes is selected based on their respective pre-formed curvatures and flexibility so that a given overlap configuration causes the combination of overlapping tubes to form a predetermined shape that substantially matches a desired path through the anatomy.

TL;DR: In this paper, a nonholonomic kinematics, control, and path planning model for steerable flexible needles with bevel tips is proposed to reach a specified 3D target.

TL;DR: A new model for the statics and dynamics of robots with general tendon routing paths that is derived by coupling the classical Cosserat-rod and Cossarat-string models and includes traditional axially routed tendons as a special case is provided.

TL;DR: This paper applies beam mechanics to obtain a kinematic model of active cannula shape and describes design tools that result from the modeling process and Experimental results illustrate the importance of including torsional effects and the ability of the model to predict energy bifurcation and active cannulas shape.