In this section
Soft and flexible robotic systems for affordable healthcare.
Our research investigates fundamental aspects of control of soft and flexible robots for surgery. These include harnessing the intrinsic compliance of soft robots, rejecting disturbances that characterise the surgical environment, and complying with stringent safety requirements. Our ambition is to provide affordable robotic solutions for a range of surgical applications, including endoscopy, percutaneous intervention, and multi-handed surgery.
Robotics for healthcare is one of the fastest growing segments in the global robotics market. However, conventional surgical robots are unaffordable in low-resource settings. Harnessing the potential of soft and flexible robots can contribute to making surgery safter, more accurate, and more accessible in low-middle income countries. These are pressing needs due to the aging population, and to the growing workforce crisis in the healthcare market.
Our work aims to improve accuracy, reduce the risk of injury, and reduce discomfort in percutaneous interventions such as biopsy, in diagnostic and interventional endoscopy, and in multi-handed surgery.
Dr Enrico Franco
Lecturer
@article{Franco:2023:10.1002/rnc.6885,
author = {Franco, E},
doi = {10.1002/rnc.6885},
journal = {International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control},
pages = {10024--10045},
title = {Integral passivity-based control of underactuated mechanical systems with actuator dynamics and constant disturbances},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rnc.6885},
volume = {33},
year = {2023}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - This work investigates the energy shaping control of a class of underactuated mechanical systems with first-order actuator dynamics and subject to both matched and unmatched constant additive disturbances. To this end, a new nonlinear control law which includes two independent integral actions is presented. The controller design is outlined for systems with first-order actuator dynamics, and also for systems with direct actuation. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated with numerical simulations on an inertia wheel pendulum and on a ball-on-beam system, both actuated by electric DC motors and subject to constant disturbances.
AU - Franco,E
DO - 10.1002/rnc.6885
EP - 10045
PY - 2023///
SN - 1049-8923
SP - 10024
TI - Integral passivity-based control of underactuated mechanical systems with actuator dynamics and constant disturbances
T2 - International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rnc.6885
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rnc.6885
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/105411
VL - 33
ER -
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