Design, Modeling and Analysis of a Spherical Parallel Continuum Manipulator for Nursing Robots

In the healthcare industry, nursing robots have made great contributions, assisting in the delivery of food and medicine as well as the movement and transfer of patients. However, the traditional continuum manipulator often has the problems of limited workspace and weak carrying capacity. Compared with traditional manipulator, the continuum manipulator has the advantages of a small moment of inertia and high dexterity. This paper proposes a original cable-driven parallel continuum manipulator with a spherical parallel mechanism as the continuous segments. Due to the spherical parallel mechanisms’ characteristics, the proposed cable-driven spherical parallel continuum manipulator offers many inherent advantages for nursing robots. The prototype is tested and analyzed, and the kinematics and statics are verified. The results show that the cable-driven spherical parallel continuum manipulator for nursing robots has low requirements for workspace, suitable for complex spaces and can have a large carrying capacity.