F. C. Moon1, E. S. Catto and C. K. Yuan
ABSTRACT: We present a unique manipulator called the Elasticarm. This robot arm is based on the elastica and uses a cable system to achieve three-dimensional motion with a single flexible beam. The Elasticarm has a parallel mechanism design and uses continuous beam deformations to perform tasks. The static shape of the arm is analyzed using large deformation beam theory. The workspace is calculated and an example of path planning is presented. The planar dynamics of the arm are modeled using a nonlinear finite element formulation. Linearizing this model, we demonstrate the dependence of the natural frequencies on the arm’s configuration. The finite element results are validated with experimental results.