International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems 18(X) (2020) 1-14 ISSN:1598-6446 eISSN:2005-4092

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12555-019-0449-y http://www.springer.com/12555

Variable Impedance Control of Cable Actuated Continuum Manipulators

Guangping He*, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao

Abstract: Continuum manipulators are a class of special compliant robots that have important potential applica-
tions in the field of human-machine interactive operations, or work in cluttered and constrained environments. In
these application scenarios, the most popular operation tasks are those with coupling force-position constraints. To
simultaneously stabilize the desired operation force and the position of the manipulator, variable impedance control
issues of the cable driven continuum manipulators are investigated in this paper. On the basis of constructing a novel
Lyapunov function, a variable impedance control law is presented and the stability of the closed-loop system has
also been analyzed. Then the operation space variable impedance control for a single segment cable driven contin-
uum manipulator is realized by the aid of a pseudo-rigid-body model. Some numerical simulations also demonstrate
the stability of the variable impedance control system.

Keywords: Continuum manipulators, control, robots, stability, variable impedance.

1. INTRODUCTION the continuum manipulators are usually coupling force-

Continuum manipulators are a class of large deforma-
tion compliant manipulators, which can be potentially ap-
plied in the fields of minimally invasive surgery [1–3], re-
habilitation nursing [4], endoscopic detection of complex
mechanical parts [5], and life rescue [6] etc. In these ap-
plication scenarios, one of the main technical difficulties
of the continuum manipulators is to stabilize the operation
tasks that are depicted by time-varying coupling force and
position constraints.
It is different from the traditionally hybrid force/position
control for common industrial robots [7] or for continuum
manipulators [8, 9], where the operation tasks with decou-
pled force-position constraints were generally considered
[7–10]. Under the framework of hybrid force/position
control, in Cartesian space the equivalent dynamics of
the end-effector of a manipulator was generally consid-
ered only [7–11]. However, the main purpose of devel-
oping continuum manipulators is to be used for dexter-
ous operation in cluttered and constrained environments
[5, 6, 8, 9, 12]. There may be multiple contacting points
between the continuum manipulators and the operation
environments. As some typical operation tasks, such as
surgical puncture [1], massage in rehabilitation [4], en-
doscopic detection [5, 13], etc, the task constraints of
position constraints at multiple contacting points.
Although the shape tracking and control issues for
continuum manipulators have been given much attention
[12, 14, 15], as the structure stiffness of continuum manip-
ulators is rather weak, stiffness control [16–18] of contin-
uum manipulators has also been studied in recent years
to improve the force operation performance. It is well
known that the operation stiffness of multi degrees of free-
dom (DOF) manipulators in Cartesian space depends on
the configuration of the manipulators. For continuum ma-
nipulators, under certain conditions the elastic deforma-
tion formula can be analytically obtained [16], thereby not
only the operation forces can be indirectly detected by us-
ing the elastic deformation formula [19], but also the op-
eration stiffness of the continuum manipulators can be ap-
proximately adjusted by a similar method [16]. However,
since the operation stiffness control approach presented
for the concentric tube continuum manipulators [16] is
configuration-dependent, this class of methods is not suit-
able for the relevant applications in cluttered and con-
strained environments, where large configuration changes
maybe not allowed. It is different from the concentric tube
[17], multi-backbone [8, 20] and fluid driven [21] con-
tinuum manipulators, the cable driven [5, 13] or tendon
driven [9, 19] continuum manipulators can potentially re-

Manuscript received June 17, 2019; revised September 22, 2019; accepted November 17, 2019. Recommended by Associate Editor Joonbum
Bae under the direction of Editor Kyoung Kwan Ahn. This work is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China under Grant
No. 2019YFB1309603, Beijing Natural Science Foundation under Grants L172001, 4204097, 3172009 and 3194047, Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grant 51775002.

Guangping He, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao are with Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engi-
neering, North China University of Technology, Beijing 100144, China (e-mails: hegp55@126.com, 535424873@qq.com, {sutingting,
zhaolei}@ncut.edu.cn, zql-01@163.com). Tingting Su is also with State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems,
Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
* Corresponding author.

⃝ICROS,
c KIEE and Springer 2020
2 Guangping He, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao
alize configuration-independent operation stiffness con-
trol since the actuators of them are independent of the
structures.
From the viewpoint of robot control, impedance con-
trol is more suitable for the operation tasks with coupling
force-position constraints. By changing the double con-
trol targets with regard to position and interaction force
for a manipulator to single dynamic system, which de-
picts the dynamic relationship between interaction forces
and the robot movements, then a given operation task with
coupling force-position constraints could be stably imple-
mented. To date the impedance control has been exten-
sively studied in the field of traditionally industrial manip-
ulators [11, 22, 23]. In particular, the invariant impedance
control technology has been given relatively thorough dis-
cussions. Only in recent years, variable impedance con-
trol technology has received increasing attention [24–27].
In [24] a variable impedance active ankle-foot orthosis
was presented by applying a control strategy of finite-state
machine, thereby the impedance variation is non-smooth
and the stability of the system was not analyzed. In lit-
erature [25], a brief review of variable impedance con-
trol was presented and then a approach based on variable
damping and mass properties of the robot was proposed,
while the stability region of the variable impedance con-
trol system is determined by experiments. Closely related
to the variable impedance control, a rather thorough re-
view of design and components of variable stiffness ac-
tuators is presented in [26]. In the literature [27], a state-
independent stability condition is presented for variable
impedance control. Nevertheless, for the continuum ma-
nipulators, few of research [28, 29] related to impedance
control could be obtained in the academic literatures. In
a recent conference paper [29], invariant impedance con-
trol in configuration space for single segment continuum
manipulators was discussed, so it is impossible to dynam-
ically control the manipulator’s operation stiffness, while
variable stiffness is an important capability for the contin-
uum manipulators since they are primarily used in inter-
acting with the environment.
In brief, at present there are three limitations in the re-
search of complex force-position constrained task control
technology for continuum robots:
a) Previous studies have focused on force/position hy-
brid control for continuous robots [8–10], where the op-
eration tasks with decoupling force-position constraints
could only be considered.
b) The research objects are mainly limited to multi-
backbone continuous robots [8, 9].
c) Previous presented variable stiffness control strategy
for continuum manipulators is configuration-dependent
[16].
In this paper, we investigate the variable impedance
control approach for the cable driven continuum manip-
ulator (CDCM). The new contributions of this paper in-
clude that:
a) The proposed variable impedance control strategy is
configuration-independent.
b) The proposed variable impedance control strategy is
realized in operation space. Thereby, the continuum ma-
nipulators can implement the operation tasks that are ex-
pressed by coupling force-position constraints.
c) The stability conditions of the closed-loop system are
state-independent, and the stability of the closed-loop sys-
tem can be guaranteed by designing unique scalar param-
eter.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: In
Section 2, the kinematics of a CDCM is presented and
the operation stiffness of the manipulators is analyzed. In
Section 3, by a brief review of invariant impedance con-
trol method, then a variable impedance control approach
is presented, and the stability conditions are simplified
for designing unique scalar parameter. In Section 4, we
present the dynamics of the CDCM, and then the invariant
and variable impedance control laws are tested by some
numerical simulations. In the final, we summarize the pa-
per in Section 5.
2. KINEMATICS AND OPERATION STIFFNESS
ANALYSIS OF THE CONTINUUM
MANIPULATORS
2.1. Kinematics of the continuum manipulators
As shown in Fig. 1(a), the CDCMs are considered in
this paper. The compliant mechanism of an elastic seg-
ment (Fig. 1(b)) is composed of a pair of antagonistic
springs, of which the central backbone spring is only
stretchable, while the concentric mounted outer spring is
only compressible. Thus the compliant mechanism of sin-
gle segment of the continuum manipulator has only two
DOF, i.e., bending and torsion, while the length of the
elastic segment is invariant. It is different from the multi-
backbone [8,9] and concentric tube robots [16], where the
shape and the actuation forces of the cable actuated con-
tinuum manipulators can be approximately measured by
sensing the effective length and pull forces of the cables,
and the relevant sensors can be mounted on the external of
the manipulators [30]. This special structure makes it pos-
sible to realize impedance control both in configuration
space and in operation space.
To parameterize the manipulator, the coordination sys-
tems of the manipulator are illustrated in Fig. 2. For a seg-
ment oi−1 −oi of a CDCM, ∑ i−1 (oi−1 −xi−1 yi−1 zi−1 ) is the
base frame, which is fixed to the center of the cross sec-
tion closing to the base. ∑ i (oi − xi yi zi ) is the body frame,
which is fixed to the center of the cross section far away
from the base. The axes zi−1 and zi are tangential to the arc
of the backbone. The dihedral angle θi−1 is defined to be
the angle between the top and bottom cross-sections, and
the radius of the dihedral fan is ri−1 . The torsion angle of
 Variable Impedance Control of Cable Actuated Continuum Manipulators
(a)
(b)
Fig. 1. The cable driven continuum manipulator. (a) The
3D prototype of a four segments CDCM; (b) The
compliant mechanism of a segment of the CDCM.
Fig. 2. Parameters of a segment of a continuum manipula-
tor in configuration space.
the body with respect to the axis zi−1 is defined to be ϕi−1 .
Considering the specific structure of the complaint mech-
anism, it is supposed that the backbone’s arc length ℓi−1 of
all segments of the continuum manipulator can neither be
compressed nor extended, and the curvature of the elastic
3
segment oi−1 − oi is κi−1 , which is a constant value along
the backbone for any given time (but the curvature κi−1 is
varying with respect to time in operations), and can be cal-
culated by κi−1 = 1/ri−1 . We also suppose the frames ∑ i
(i = 1, 2, · · · , m) are established according to the left hand
rule. Thus in configuration space the elastic segments can
[ ]T
be parameterized as Θ i−1 = κi−1 ϕi−1 . Note that the
backbone’s arc length ℓi−1 is an invariant structure param-
eter, while the curvature κi−1 and the torsion angle ϕi−1 are
two variables, and there is a relationship θi−1 = κi−1 ℓi−1
between the dihedral angle θi−1 and the curvature κi−1 for
the segment oi−1 − oi . Then there exists the following for-
ward kinematics relationship from the configuration space
to the Cartesian space
Θi−1 ), x i ∈ ℜ6 , Θ i−1 ∈ ℜ2 .
x i = f i−1 (Θ (1)
Except for some very special cases [31], the global inverse
kinematics Θ i−1 = f −1 xi ) could not be analytically ob-
i−1 (x
tained from the forward kinematics (1). However, we can
obtain the local inverse kinematics from the following dif-
ferential equation of (1)
i Θ̇
ẋxi = (JJ B )i−1 Θi−1 , (2)
[ ]
where (JJ B )i−1
i = ∂∂Θf i−1
i−1
∈ ℜ6×2 is the robot-independent
Jacobian matrix [32] of the segment oi−1 − oi , which maps
a speed vector from the configuration space to the opera-
tion space. The Jacobian matrix (JJ B )i−1 i for single segment
continuum manipulator is given in the Appendix A of the
paper.
Different from a conventional industrial robot manipu-
lator, the actuation space and the configuration space of
continuum manipulators are generally not identical. To
control the manipulator in actuation space, the kinemat-
ics between the actuation space and configuration space
is also necessary. As shown in Fig. 3, we suppose the
elastic segment oi−1 − oi of the continuum manipulators is
actuated by three cables, which are uniformly distributed
with regard to the cross sections. Since herein the relative
effective-length of the cables determines the shape of the
elastic segments, the actuation space of an elastic segment
[ ]T
can be parameterized by q i−1 = li−1,1 li−1,2 li−1,3 ,
where li−1, j ( j = 1, 2, 3) are the effective lengths of the
cables. Referring to Fig. 3, let ϕi−1, j ( j = 1, 2, 3) be the
angles between the plane A − oi−1 − oi and the radius at
the passing through points of the cables in the base cross-
section, and with the aid of a diagram (see Fig. 4) illustrat-
ing the geometric relationship associated with the cable’s
planes, it is not difficult to obtain the following forward
kinematics from the actuation space to configuration space
Θi−1 = hi−1 (qi−1 ). (3)
It is similar to (1), and the inverse kinematics q i−1 =
h −1 Θi−1 ) of (3) cannot be analytically obtained gener-
i−1 (Θ
ally. Once more, with the help of the following differential
4 Guangping He, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao

where J = J BJ A , and in the following, we define J A =

(JJ A )i−1 J B )i−1
i , J B = (J i in order to simplify the symbols
while not resulting in confusions.
It is well known that there is the following relationship
between the external forces F x and the actuation forces F l
of a manipulator

F l = J TF x . (6)

Then the operation stiffness of the continuum manipula-

tors can be calculated by
( )
∂ F x ∂ J +TF l ∂Fl
Kx = = = H TEF l +JJ +T , (7)
Fig. 3. The geometric relationship between the actuation ∂x ∂x ∂x
space and the configuration space.
where H TE = ∂ ∂J x is the Hessian, which is a tensor with
+T

dimensions 6 × 2m × 6, J +T = J (JJ TJ )−1 is the Moore-

Penrose pseudo-inverse of the matrix J T , and the last term
in the right hand side of (7) satisfies

∂Fl ∂Fl ∂q
= = kJJ + , (8)
∂x ∂q ∂x
where k is the identical tensile stiffness of the cables. From
(7) and (8), it follows that

K x = H TEF l + kJJ +TJ + , (9)

Fig. 4. The geometric relationship of the tendon’s planes
parallel to the flexure plane of an elastic segment.
kinematics of (3),
Θi−1 = (JJ A )ii−1q̇qi−1 ,
Θ̇ (4)
[ ]
where (JJ A )i−1
i = ∂∂ hq i−1
i−1
∈ ℜ2×3 is the robot-dependent Ja-
cobian matrix [32] of the segment oi−1 − oi , which maps a
speed vector from the actuation space to the configuration
space, then the inverse kinematics of (3) can be resolved
locally. The robot-dependent Jacobian matrix (JA )i−1 i of
the cable driven single segment continuum manipulators
illustrated in Fig. 1(b) is presented in the Appendix B of
this paper.
2.2. Operation stiffness analysis of the continuum ma-
nipulator
A notable feature of a continuum manipulator is its
weak structural stiffness. However, high stiffness is of
paramount importance for many real world applications.
Combined with the differential kinematics (2) and (4), the
overall differential kinematics of an elastic segment of a
continuum manipulator can be written as
ẋx = J q̇q, (5)
where the second term in the right hand side of (9) only de-
pends on the structure parameters k and the configuration
of a manipulator, therefore it is said to be the “passive”
stiffness of the manipulators. For some continuum manip-
ulators, such as the concentric tube surgical robots [16],
the passive stiffness term can only be used to adjust the
operation stiffness since the structures and the actuators
of the robot are amalgamated, and thereby the adjustment
range of the operation stiffness is rather limited. The first
term in the right hand side of (9) is said to be “active”
stiffness since the operation stiffness can be controlled by
the actuator forces F l in a larger range. As the cable actu-
ated continuum manipulators considered in this paper, the
active stiffness term in (9) can also be used to control the
operation stiffness of the continuum manipulators.
3. IMPEDANCE CONTROL OF THE
MANIPULATORS
3.1. Invariant impedance control
In order to simultaneously stabilize the manipulator to a
given position and a desired interaction forces, impedance
control in Cartesian space is commonly established by sta-
bilizing the following dynamic system
H x̄x¨ +D
Dx̄x˙ +K
K x̄x = F x , (10)
where x̄x = x − x d is defined to be the vector of position
errors in operation space, and x d is the desired position
 Variable Impedance Control of Cable Actuated Continuum Manipulators 5

of the end-effector of a manipulator. H , D and K in (10) 3.2. Variable impedance control

are positive definite and symmetric matrices, and F x is the Compared with the invariant impedance control pre-
external loads. sented in the subsection 3.1, for variable impedance con-
In configuration space, the dynamics of a manipulator trol we consider the following desired time-varying dy-
can be written as namic systems
Θ +C
MΘ̈ Θ, Θ̇
C (Θ Θ)Θ̇
Θ +N Θ) = J TBF x +JJ +T
N (Θ A Fl, (11) H x̄x¨ +D
D(t)x̄x˙ +K
K (t)x̄x = F x , (18)
where M is the inertial matrix, C (Θ Θ, Θ̇
Θ) is a coefficient
where H is a const matrix, D (t) and K (t) are two time-
matrix associated with the centrifugal and Coriolis forces,
varying matrices, and the three matrices are all positive
Θ) is the potential forces that include gravity and elastic
N (Θ
definite and symmetric. The variables x̄x and F x in the sys-
forces. By applying the differential kinematics (2) and the
tem (18) are defined as the same as that in (10).
following acceleration relationship
In practical applications, the time-varying stiffness ma-
Θ + J̇J BΘ̇
ẍx = J BΘ̈ Θ, (12) trix K (t) can be specified according to a given operation
task, while the damping matrix D (t) should be selected
then in operation space the equivalent dynamics of (11) so that the closed-loop system is asymptotically stable. To
can be written as this end, by drawing lessons from [27], we present the fol-
Mẍx + Ĉ
M̂ N = F x +JJ +TF l ,
Cẋx + N̂ (13) lowing proposition for controlling the CDCMs.
Proposition 1: Considering the operation space dy-
+
where M̂M = J +T +
C = J +T
B MJ B , Ĉ J B + J +T
B M J̇ Θ, Θ̇
B C (Θ Θ)JJ +
B and
namic systems (13) and the target system (18), if the stiff-
+ ness matrix K (t) is continuous, so that the differential ma-
+T
N = J B N (Θ
N̂ Θ). Note that the identity J B J̇J BJ B = −J̇J B is
+ +

used in the definition of the matrix Ĉ C (see Lemma 1 in the trix K̇ K (t) ≤ Γ,
K (t) with respect to time is bounded, i.e., K̇
following). Substituting (10) into (13) and considering the where Γ > 0 is a constant. Then if there exists a constant
definition of the position errors x̄x = x −xxd , it is straightfor- α > 0 and a matrix D (t), so that the following set of in-
ward that the control law in actuation space can be given equalities is satisfied
by 

 α > 0,
[ d ] 

Cẋxd + N̂
Mẍx + Ĉ
M̂ N K (t) + α D (t) − α 2H > 0,
F l = JT . (14)
M −H
+(M̂ C −D
H )x̄x¨ + (Ĉ D)x̄x˙ −K
K x̄x 
(19)
 −DD(t) + α H < 0,


In other words, under the control inputs (14), the operation 
K (t) + α Ḋ
K̇ D(t) − 2α K (t) < 0,
space dynamics (13) is equivalent to the desired dynamics
(10). By choosing appropriate dynamics parameters H , D then the closed-loop system
and K , then the position errors x̄x are stable if the external 
loads F x ̸= 0. When there does not exist external force, 
 Mẍx + Ĉ
M̂ N = F x +JJ +TF l ,
Cẋx + N̂
 [ d ]
i.e., F x = 0, then the position errors x̄x of the closed-loop Cẋxd + N̂
Mẍx + Ĉ
M̂ N [
 T ]
system (10) should be asymptotically stable. 
F l = J
+ M −H
+(M̂ C −D
H )x̄x¨ + Ĉ D(t) x̄x˙ −K
K (t)x̄x
Lemma 1: The identity J + B = −J̇
J BJ +
B J̇ J B is valid.
Proof: Let’s see (2). For more clarity, (2) can be simply (20)
Θ, of which the acceleration relationship
written as ẋx = J BΘ̇
is globally asymptotically stable at the origin x̄x = 0 when
is given by (12). The inverse kinematics of ẋx = J BΘ̇ Θ is
the external loads F x = 0. If F x ̸= 0, then the origin x̄x = 0
given by Θ̇Θ = J+ B x
ẋ . The time derivative of the last equation
is stable.
is written as
Proof: Substituting the second equation of (20) into the
+
Θ = J+
Θ̈ x + J̇J B ẋx.
B ẍ (15) first one, it follows that

Multiply both sides of (12) by J +

B , and then (12) follows Mẍx + Ĉ
M̂ Cẋx + N̂
N
that = F x +JJ +TJ T [M̂
Mẍxd + Ĉ
Cẋxd + N̂ M −H
N + (M̂ H )x̄x¨
[ ]
J+ x = J+
B ẍ Θ +JJ +
B J BΘ̈ B J̇ Θ.
J BΘ̇ (16) + ĈC −D D(t) x̄x˙ −KK (t)x̄x]. (21)
Θ = J+
Substituting the inverse kinematics Θ̇ x into the last
B ẋ [ ]T
equation, and considering the identity J +
B J B = I , we have It is straightforward that J +TJ T = (JJJ + )T = J J T (JJ J T )−1
= I is an identical matrix, thus (21) can be simplified as
Θ = J+
Θ̈ x −JJ +
B ẍ J BJ +
B J̇ x.
B ẋ (17)
( ) ( )
+ M̂ C ẋx − ẋxd
M ẍx − ẍxd + Ĉ
By comparing (15) with (17), the identity J + B = −J̇
J BJ +
B J̇ JB [ ]
can be obtained. = F x + (M̂M −H C −D
H )x̄x¨ + Ĉ D(t) x̄x˙ −K
K (t)x̄x. (22)
6 Guangping He, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao

By using the definition of the position errors x̄x = x − x d , Due to the assumption K (t) > 0, if the first inequal-
then it follows that ity α 2H < α D(t) is satisfied, then the second inequality
K (t) + α D (t) > α 2H is automatically satisfied. Thus the
H x̄x¨ +D
D(t)x̄x˙ +K
K (t)x̄x = F x . (23) inequalities group (30) can be further simplified as
To prove the stability of the dynamic system (23), we se- {
α H < D (t),
lect a Lyapunov candidate function (31)
K (t) + α Ḋ
K̇ D(t) < 2α K (t).
1 1
V(x̄x˙ , x̄x,t) = (x̄x˙ + α x̄x)TH (x̄x˙ + α x̄x) + x̄xTβ (t)x̄x, (24) To solve the damping matrix D (t) from the inequalities
2 2
group (31), we change (31) to an equivalent form for more
where the scalar constant α > 0 and the time-varying ma-
clarity
trix β (t) > 0. To analyze the stability conditions of the 
closed-loop system (23), the time derivative of the func- D (t) > α H ,
tion (24) along the dynamic system (23) can be given by 1 (32)
ḊD(t) < − K̇K (t) + 2K
K (t).
V̇(x̄x˙ , x̄x,t) α
1 Since the stiffness matrix K̇ K (t) ≤
K (t) is bounded, i.e., K̇
β (t)x̄x. (25)
= (x̄x˙ + α x̄x)TH (x̄x¨ + α x̄x˙ ) + x̄xTβ (t)x̄x˙ + x̄xTβ̇ Γ > 0, as given in the proposition, so we can always give a
2
small constant ρ > 0, such that there exists a positive con-
Suppose the external loads F x = 0 in (23), and substitute
stant α > 0 satisfying the equation − α1 K̇ K (t) > ρ I ,
K (t) + 2K
D(t)x̄x˙ −K
the resulted equation H x̄x¨ = −D K (t)x̄x into (25), and
where I is an identical matrix. On the basis of the above
with some straightforward arrangements, (25) can be writ-
analysis, we can conclude that the following equation
ten as
D (t) = α H + ρ I , t ≥ 0 (33)
V̇(x̄x˙ , x̄x,t) =x̄x˙ T [−D D(t) + α H ] x̄x˙
[ ]
+ x̄x˙ T β (t) −K K (t) − α D (t) + α 2H x̄x is a feasible solution of the inequalities group (19).
[ ] Remark 2: The special form of Lyapunov function (24)
1
+ x̄xT β̇ β (t) − α K (t) x̄x. (26) was first presented in [27] based on the method presented
2 in [33] for analyzing a time-varying scalar system. The
Define characteristic of the Lyapunov function (24) is that it is
virtual energy functions of weighted sums of the veloc-
β (t) = K (t) + α D (t) − α 2H , (27) ity error and position error. In addition, from (29), we can
and the time derivative of (27) is given by see that the convergence analysis of the function V̇(x̄x˙ , x̄x,t)
does not depend on the state of the controlled system. In
β (t) = K̇
β̇ K (t) + α Ḋ
D(t), (28) this paper, we extend this stability analysis method to op-
eration space variable impedance control for CDCMs. In
then (26) can be rewritten as Remark 2 we also present a different method from that
V̇(x̄x˙ , x̄x,t) in [27] to solve the stability conditions (19). It is shown
[ ] that under certain condition solving the inequalities group
1
˙T D(t) + α H ] x̄x˙ + x̄x
= x̄x [−D T
β (t) − α K (t) x̄x
β̇ can be transformed to design the unique scalar parameter
2 α . Even though the presented method shows some con-
= x̄x˙ T [−DD(t) + α H ] x̄x˙ servatism, the proposed method is feasible in real world
[ ] applications for stabilizing the continuum manipulators,
T 1 1
+ x̄x K (t) + α Ḋ
K̇ D(t) − α K (t) x̄x. (29) since most of operations for continuum manipulators are
2 2
interaction tasks, where the operation compliance is a ba-
Thus the stability conditions of the closed-loop system sic feature. Certainly, optimizing the control parameters is
(23) can be summarized as (19). The first two inequali- a valuable work, but that is beyond the scope of this paper.
ties in (19) are used since the positive definite property Remark 3: It is worth mentioning that, the controller
of the function V(x̄x˙ , x̄x,t) must be ensured, while the last F l only uses position feedbacks in the variable impedance
two inequalities in (19) are used to guarantee the negative control closed-loop systems (20), such that the hardware
definite property of the differential function V̇(x̄x˙ , x̄x,t). costs of the continuum manipulator systems can be re-
Remark 1: Under the condition α > 0, the inequalities duced, and the difficulty of installing force sensor on the
group (19) can be simplified as mechanical structure of the manipulators can be avoided.
 2 To obtain velocity and acceleration error signals from the
α < α (t),
 H D
position feedbacks, many kinds of observers or estimators
K (t) + α D (t) > α 2H , (30) can be utilized, such as the relevant approaches presented


K (t) + α Ḋ
K̇ D(t) < 2α K (t). in [34].
 Variable Impedance Control of Cable Actuated Continuum Manipulators
Remark 4: It is worthy to mention that, from the view-
point of practical applications, the computational burden
of the invariant impedance controller (14) and the vari-
able one (20) are mainly caused by calculating the coef-
C , which is associated with the centrifugal
ficient matrix Ĉ
and Coriolis forces of the system dynamics (13). How-
ever, since the continuum manipulators are generally used
to complete interaction tasks, the movement speeds of the
manipulators cannot be too fast. Thus the relevant forces
C caused by coupling velocities are rather small and
terms Ĉ
can be neglected in designing the closed-loop systems.
4. NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
4.1. Dynamics modeling of the single segment CD-
CMs
No matter what kind of compliant mechanism is adopted
for designing the continuum manipulators, single segment
of the continuum manipulators can only produce rather
limited motion range generally due to their special ac-
tuation methods [1–6]. It is reasonable of establishing a
pseudo-rigid-body model of single segment continuum
manipulator, as shown in Fig. 5, where the bending move-
ments of the elastic segment are approximated by a coil
spring with constant stiffness kθ that locates the center of
the base disk, while the torsional movements are approx-
imated by a torsion spring with constant stiffness kϕ that
also locates the center of the base disk. In addition, the
elastic segment is approximated to a rigid link with invari-
ant length ℓi−1 , and it is assumed that the total mass of
the elastic segment is concentrated at the end of the rigid
link for simplifying the dynamics. Referring to Fig. 3 and
Fig. 4, it is observed when the central angle of arc length
ℓi−1 is θi−1 , then the equivalent deformation angle of the
coil spring kθ can be approximated to θi−1 /2.
Fig. 5. Pseudo-rigid-body model of single segment con-
tinuum manipulator.
7
On the basis of the pseudo-rigid-body model, by the La-
grange mechanics [35], the dynamics of the single seg-
ment continuum manipulators in configuration space can
be written as
( )
d ∂L ∂L
− = J TBF x +JJ +T
A F l, (34)
dt ∂ Θ̇Θ ∂Θ
[ ]T
where Θ = κi−1 ϕi−1 is the generalized coordinates
in configuration space, L = T − U is the Lagrangian, and
T is kinetic energy while Uis potential energy. Then by
some simple deductions, the configuration space dynam-
ics of the single segment continuum manipulator can be
presented as a form of (11). The detailed form of the dy-
namics (11) for the continuum manipulator considered in
this paper is provided in the Appendix C. Then follow-
ing the same lines as that presented in the Section 3.1 or
Section 3.2, the invariant impedance control or variable
impedance control of single segment continuum manipu-
lators can be realized respectively, as that are presented in
the following subsections.
Remark 5: As shown in Section 2.1, since the DOF
of the configuration space is two while the dimension of
the actuation space is three, the cable driven single seg-
ment continuum manipulators considered in this paper is
actually a redundantly actuated system. As discussed in
[36, 37], the dynamics of a redundantly actuated paral-
lel manipulator can also be expressed as the form (11) in
terms of its generalized coordinates. For the cable driven
single segment continuum manipulators shown in Fig. 1,
[ ]T
the generalized coordinates are Θ = κi−1 ϕi−1 . Thus
the dynamics model (see Appendix C) can be given as the
form of (11) without any difficulty.
4.2. Numerical simulations of invariant impedance
control
Referring to Section 3.1, by applying the robot-independ-
ent Jacobian J B and its differential matrix, which are pro-
vided in the Appendix D, the configuration space dynam-
ics (C.5) of the single segment continuum manipulator can
be transformed into the operation space dynamics (13).
Then using the control law (14), the operation space dy-
namics (13) can be stabilized to the desired dynamic sys-
tem (10).
In the first numerical simulation, the relevant structure
parameters of the single segment continuum manipulators
are listed in Table 1. The control parameters and the initial
state of the system are listed in Table 2. Under the invari-
ant impedance control law (14), the numerical simulation
results of the closed-loop system are illustrated in Figs. 6-
9.
It’s observed that, for a desired but arbitrarily given in-
[ ]T
teraction forces Fx = 0.2 0.1 , the state (as shown in
Fig. 6) of the closed-loop system is stable, and the out-
put interaction forces Fx are also asymptotically stabilized
8 Guangping He, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao

Table 1. Structure parameters of the single segment con-

tinuum manipulators.
Parameters Symbols Value Unit
Radius of the disks Ri−1 0.03 M
Arc length ℓi−1 0.15 M
of single segment
Mass mi−1 0.2 Kg
Bending stiffness kθ 0.5 Nm
Torsional stiffness kϕ 1.0 Nm
Bending inertia Jθ 4.5 × 10−3 Kgm2
Fig. 6. Time responses of the state of the closed-loop sys-
Torsional inertia Jϕ 9.0 × 10−4 Kgm2
tem in invariant impedance control.

Table 2. The initial state and the control parameters for in-
variant impedance control.
Parameters Symbols Value Unit
[ ]T
Initial position e = x̄x 0.03 −0.02 m
errors
[ ]T
Initial speed ėe = x̄x˙ 0.1 −0.1 m/s
errors
[ ]
Desired inertial 1.5 0
H Kg
matrix 0 1.0
[ ]
Desired stiffness 10 0
K N/m
matrix 0 15 Fig. 7. The output forces of the closed-loop system in in-
[ ]
Desired damping 4 0 variant impedance control.
D N/s
matrix 0 5
[ ]T
External forces Fx 0.2 0.1 N

[ ]T
to the desired values 0.2 0.1 . Correspondingly, the
actuation forces as shown in Fig. 9 are stable and the di-
rections (always less than zero) of them are not changed
in the control task. So the cables do not appear a relaxed
state. From Fig. 8, it is also observed that the variations
of the cables’ length are not large. The reason is that the
radius of the disks Ri−1 (see Fig. 2) is far less than the arc
length of the elastic segment ℓi−1 , such that a small change Fig. 8. The length of the cables of the manipulator in in-
in the cables’ length cause a relatively large deformation variant impedance control.
in the end of the manipulator. As discussed in [29], this is
a common phenomenon in continuum manipulators due to
the special driving mode.

4.3. Numerical simulations of variable impedance

control
In this numerical simulation, the desired time-varying
stiffness matrix K (t) and the desired interacting forces
F x are listed in Table 3, and the damping matrix D (t) is
selected to be D (t) = 8H H + 0.1II according to (33) in the
last of Remark 2. In other words, the parameters (α , ρ )
are selected as (α , ρ )=(8, 0.1), and it can be verified that
the condition − α1 K̇
K (t)+2KK (t) > ρ I is satisfied for guaran- Fig. 9. The actuation forces of the cables of the manipula-
teeing the positive definite property of the matrix D (t) in tor in invariant impedance control.
the control task. In the simulation of variable impedance
 Variable Impedance Control of Cable Actuated Continuum Manipulators 9

Table 3. The control parameters for invariant impedance

control.

Parameters Symbols Value Unit

[ ]
Desired 15 sin 2t + 20 0
stiffness K (t) N/m
matrix 0 20 cos 2t + 25
Desired
damping D (t) H + 0.1II
8H N/s
matrix
[ ]T
External Fx N
0.5 0 Fig. 10. Time responses of the state of the closed-loop sys-
forces
tem in variable impedance control.

control, the other parameters are the same as those in the

simulations of invariant impedance control. By applying
the variable impedance control law, the responses of the
closed-loop system (20) are illustrated in Figs. 10-13.
Referring to Fig. 11, we can see that the output forces in
[ ]T
operation space are stabilized to the target F x = 0.5 0 ,
while the state of the controlled system is also stable, as
shown in Fig. 10. The fluctuations in Fig. 10 are caused
by the desired time-varying stiffness K (t). When the op-
eration stiffness changes, the manipulator has to adjust
its position to guarantee the stability of the output oper-
ation forces. Due to the relatively small fluctuations of the Fig. 11. The output forces the closed-loop system in vari-
states (as shown in Fig. 10), the changes of the length of able impedance control.
the cables are not large (see Fig. 12), while the actuation
forces (as shown in Fig. 13) show rather large fluctuations
because of the desired time-varying operation stiffness
K (t). However, this exactly demonstrates the application
of the “active” stiffness term of (9) in regulating the op-
eration stiffness of the continuum manipulators. In other
words, by applying the variable impedance controller de-
sign method presented in Section 3, through actively regu-
lating the closed-loop operation stiffness, the cable-driven
continuum manipulators can stably complete certain given
coupling force-position constrained tasks.
By comparing the numerical simulation results of in- Fig. 12. The length of the cables of the manipulator in
variant and variable impedance controlled systems, one variable impedance control.
sees that the position error responses of the two differ-
ent closed-loop systems are stable (referring to Fig. 6 and
Fig. 10), and the desired interaction forces of the single
segment CDCM are stabilized to the given values (re-
ferring to Fig. 7 and Fig. 11). By comparing Fig. 8 and
Fig. 12, we also find that the length variations of the cables
of the segment CDCM are in reasonable ranges for the two
kinds of impedance control tasks. However, due to the dif-
ferently desired operation stiffness, the trajectories of the
driving forces are completely different in the two kinds of
impedance control tasks (see Fig. 9 and Fig. 13). This just
proves the theoretical analysis in the section 2.2, that is to
say, the active stiffness term in (9) can be used to control
Fig. 13. The actuation forces of the cables of the manipu-
the operation stiffness of the continuum manipulators in a
lator in variable impedance control.
larger range.
10 Guangping He, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao

5. CONCLUSION and the position vector in the base frame is written as

 
cos ϕi−1 (1 − cos θi−1 )
Variable impedance control issues of the CDCMs are 1 
P i−1 = sin ϕi−1 (1 − cos θi−1 )  . (A.3)
investigated in this paper. By applying a novel Lyapunov i
κi−1
sin θi−1
function, an operation space variable impedance control
approach and the state-independent stability conditions of Suppose the speed vector in the base frame ∑ i−1 be
the closed-loop system are proposed. In order to simplify [ i−1 ]
υi
the control parameters selection, a new method is pro- V i−1 = , (A.4)
i
ω i−1
i
posed by transforming the problem of solving a group of
inequalities to choose unique scalar parameter. On the ba- then the skew symmetric matrix corresponding to V i−1 can
i
sis of a pseudo-rigid-body model, the configuration space be written as [35]
dynamics of the cable driven single segment continuum
i−1
manipulators is approximately obtained, then the config- Vi
V̂
uration space dynamics is equivalently transformed into i−1 ( )−1
T i T i−1
= Ṫ i
the operation space in order to realize the operation space [ i−1 ( i−1 )T i−1 ( )T i−1 i−1 ]
impedance control. The effects of the variable impedance R
Ṙ Ri −Ṙ
Ri R i−1 Pi
P i + Ṗ
= i i ,
control law are also demonstrated by some numerical sim- 0 1
ulations. (A.5)
From the viewpoints of practical applications, there are where “∧” is the “wedge” operator [35]. From (A.5), the
some difficulties in completing variable impedance con- speed vector in the base frame can be expressed as
trol for CDCM systems. One is that the accurate kinemat- [ ]
ics and dynamics models are difficult to be obtained. Ro- i−1 κ̇i−1
V i−1 = J
(J ) , (A.6)
bust analysis of a presented controller or utilizing a ro- i B i
ϕ̇i−1
bust controller, such as sliding mode, H2 /H∞ , homoge-
where
neous feedbacks etc, should be considered in order to use  
a model-based controller. Another is that the controller cos ϕi−1 (cos θi−1 − 1)
 0 
presented by (20) in this paper uses pure position feed-  κi−1
2

 sin ϕi−1 (cos θi−1 − 1) 
backs in the variable impedance control. Therefore, a ro-  0 
( i−1 )∨  κi−1
2 
bust observer or estimator should be utilized in the closed- ∂ T  
i−1
(JJ B )i = i 
=  κi−1 ℓi−1 − sin θi−1 
loop systems. In addition, the time-varying stiffness ma- ∂ Θ i−1 0 
 κi−1
2 
trix K (t) should be reasonably defined based on a given  
 −ℓi−1 sin ϕi−1 0
specific operation task. In particular, the differential ma-  
K (t) should be bounded. These relevant issues can be  ℓi−1 cos ϕi−1 0
trix K̇
investigated in the future works. 0 1
(A.7)

APPENDIX A: THE ROBOT-INDEPENDENT is the robot-independent Jacobian matrix of the manipula-

JACOBIAN MATRIX OF SINGLE SEGMENT tor, which maps a speed vector from configuration space
CONTINUUM MANIPULATORS to operation space of the manipulators. In (A.7) the sym-
bol “∨” is the “vee” operator, which is the inverse operator
The homogeneous transformation matrix from the body of the “wedge” operator “∧”.
frame ∑ i to the base frame ∑ i−1 of a single segment con-
tinuum manipulator can be expressed as APPENDIX B: THE ROBOT-DEPENDENT
JACOBIAN MATRIX OF SINGLE SEGMENT
[ ] CONTINUUM MANIPULATORS
R i−1 P i−1
T i−1
i = i i , (A.1)
0 1 For the CDCMs as shown in Fig. 1, the robot-dependent
kinematics can be written as [32]
where the rotation matrix is given by [32]
κi−1 (qqi−1 )
√
R i−1
i 3
  2 ∑ li−1,
2
j −li−1,1 li−1,2 −li−1,1 li−1,3 −li−1,2 li−1,3
cos ϕi−1 cos θi−1 − sin ϕi−1 cos ϕi−1 sin θi−1 j=1
=  sin ϕi−1 cos θi−1 cos ϕi−1 sin ϕi−1 sin θi−1  , = 3
,
− sin θi−1 0 cos θi−1 Ri−1 ∑ li−1, j
j=1
(A.2) (B.1a)
 Variable Impedance Control of Cable Actuated Continuum Manipulators 11

( )
−1 2li−1,1 − li−1,2 − li−1,3 where Ug denotes the gravitational potential energy. Com-
ϕi−1 (qqi−1 ) = tan √ ,
3 (li−1,2 − li−1,3 ) pared with the elastic potential energy, the gravitational
potential energy is very small due to the small mass of
(B.1b)
the lightweight compliant mechanism. So the gravitational
where Ri−1 is the radius of the disks as shown in Fig. 1. On potential energy is omitted in our simulations.
the basis of the kinematics (B.1a) and (B.1b), the robot- In (C.1) the position of the centre of gravity (CG) is
dependent Jacobian is calculated by given by
   
∂ κi−1 ∂ κi−1 ∂ κi−1 cos ϕi−1 (1 − cos θi−1 )
1 
 ∂ li−1,1 ∂ li−1,2 ∂ li−1,3  x ci = sin ϕi−1 (1 − cos θi−1 )  , (C.3)
(JJ A )i−1
i =
 ∂ ϕi−1 ∂ ϕi−1 ∂ ϕi−1  ,
 (B.2) κi−1
sin θi−1
∂ li−1,1 ∂ li−1,2 ∂ li−1,3
which is obtained based on the position vector (A.3) pre-
where sented in Appendix A. Then the speed of the CG can be
written as
∂ κi−1 Λ1 (2li−1,1 − li−1,2 − li−1,3 )  
= , cos ϕi−1 (cos θi−1 − 1)
∂ li−1,1 3Ri−1 ℓi−1
 κi−1
2 
∂ κi−1 Λ1 (2li−1,2 − li−1,1 − li−1,3 )  
= ,  sin ϕi−1 (cos θi−1 − 1) 
∂ li−1,2 3Ri−1 ℓi−1 ẋxci = 

 κ̇i−1 .
 (C.4)
 κi−1
2

∂ κi−1 Λ1 (2li−1,3 − li−1,1 − li−1,2 )  κi−1 ℓi−1 − sin θi−1 
= ,
∂ li−1,3 3Ri−1 ℓi−1 κi−1
2

∂ ϕi−1 2
= , Then by applying (34), the configuration space dynamics
∂ li−1,1 Λ2
of the single segment continuum manipulator can be pre-
∂ ϕi−1 4 (li−1,3 − li−1,1 )
= √ , and sented as follows:
∂ li−1,2 3 (li−1,2 − li−1,3 )2 Λ2
∂ ϕi−1 4 (li−1,1 − li−1,2 ) Θ +C
M Θ̈ Θ, Θ̇
C (Θ Θ)Θ̇
Θ +N Θ) = J TBF x +JJ +T
N (Θ A F l, (C.5)
= √ ,
∂ li−1,3 3 (li−1,2 − li−1,3 )2 Λ2 [ ]T
where Θ = κi−1 φi−1 . The inertial matrix has a form
with [ ]
m11 m12
M= ,
Λ1 =(li−1,1
2 2
+ li−1,2 2
+ li−1,3 − li−1,1 li−1,2 − li−1,1 li−1,3 m21 m22
− li−1,2 li−1,3 )− 2 ,
1

and the elements of the matrix are respectively given by

and m11
( )2 [ ]
2li−1,1 − li−1,2 − li−1,3 (cos θi−1 −1)2 (κi−1 ℓi−1 −sin θi−1 )2 2
Λ2 = √ =m + +Jθi−1 i−1 ,
ℓ
+ 1. κi−1
4 κi−1
4
3 (li−1,2 − li−1,3 )
m12 = m21 = 0, and
APPENDIX C: THE DYNAMICS OF THE CABLE m22 = J ϕi−1 .
DRIVEN SINGLE SEGMENT CONTINUUM
MANIPULATOR Θ, Θ̇
The coefficient matrix C (Θ Θ) associated with the cen-
trifugal and Coriolis forces has a form
By applying the pseudo-rigid-body model as shown in [ ]
Fig. 5, the Lagrangian of the single segment continuum c c
Θ, Θ̇
C (Θ Θ) = 11 12 ,
manipulators can be given by L = T − U, and the kinetic c21 c22
energy T can be written as
where
1 1 1 1 1
T = mẋc2i + mẏ2ci + mż2ci + Jθi−1 θ̇i−1
2
+ Jϕi−1 ϕi−1
2
, (cos θi−1 − 1)2
2 2 2 2 2 c11 = − 2m κ̇i−1
(C.1) κi−1
5

ℓi−1 sin θi−1 (cos θi−1 − 1)

and the potential energy U is given by −m κ̇i−1
κi−1
4

1 1 (κi−1 ℓi−1 − sin θi−1 )2

U = kθi−1 θi−1
2
+ kϕi−1 ϕi−1
2
+Ug , (C.2) − 2m κ̇i−1
2 2 κi−1
5
12 Guangping He, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao

ℓi−1 (1 − cos θi−1 ) (κi−1 ℓi−1 − sin θi−1 ) k Tensile stiffness of the cables
+m κ̇i−1 ,
κi−1
4
x̄x Vector of position errors in operation space
c12 =c21 = 0, and xd Desired position of the end-effector of
a manipulator
c22 =0.
M Inertial matrix of the manipulators
The potential forces term has a form Θ, Θ̇
C (Θ Θ) Coefficient matrix associated with
the centrifugal and Coriolis forces
[ ] Potential forces that include gravity and elastic
n Θ)
N (Θ
Θ) = 1 ,
N (Θ forces
n2
H Const inertial matrix of closed-loop system
where n1 = kθi−1 ℓi−1 θi−1 and n2 = kφi−1 ϕi−1 . K (t) Time-varying stiffness matrix
D (t) Time-varying damping matrix
Γ A positive scalar constant
APPENDIX D: THE ROBOT-INDEPENDENT
JACOBIAN AND ITS DIFFERENTIAL MATRIX α A positive scalar constant
USED IN NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS ρ A small positive constant
V(x̄x˙ , x̄x,t) Lyapunov candidate function
The single segment continuum manipulator consid- β (t) Positive time-varying matrix
ered in this paper has only two DOF, thus the robot- I Identical matrix
independent Jacobian and its differential matrix used in Coil spring’s constant stiffness that locates
kθ
the numerical simulations are respectively given by: the center of the base disk
[ cos ϕi−1 (cos θi−1 −1) ] kϕ Torsion spring’s constant stiffness that locates
0 the center of the base disk
κi−1
2
JB = sin ϕi−1 (cos θi−1 −1) , (D.1) Θ Generalized coordinates in configuration space
κi−1
2 0
L Lagrangian function
and T Kinetic energy
   U Potential energy
−2 cos ϕi−1 (cos
κ3
θi−1 −1)
κ̇i−1 JA Robot-dependent Jacobian matrix
  sin ϕi−1 (cosi−1  
 − θi−1 −1)
ϕ̇i−1  0 JB Robot-independent Jacobian matrix
 κi−1
2
 
 cos ϕi−1 sin θi−1  The Jacobian matrix of the manipualtors that is
 − θ̇i−1  J
J̇J B =  κi−1  .

2 defined byJ := JB JA
 −2 sin ϕi−1 (cos θi−1 −1) κ̇  (D.2)
 κi−1
3 i−1  J+ Moore-Penrose pseudo-inverse of the matrixJ
  cos ϕi−1 (cos  
 + θi−1 −1)
ϕ̇i−1  0 Ri−1 Radius of the disks, as shown in Fig. 2
 κi−1
2
 
sin ϕi−1 sin θi−1
− κ2
θ̇i−1
i−1
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14 Guangping He, Yanan Fan, Tingting Su, Lei Zhao, and Quanliang Zhao
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Guangping He received his B.S., M.S.,
and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical and elec-
trical engineering from the Beihang Uni-
versity of China, Beijing, China, in 1994,
1997, and 2002, respectively. During 1997
and 2002, he was with Launch Vehicle
Technology Academy of China, Beijing.
He was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
with the Department of Mechanics and En-
gineering Science, Peking University, Beijing, from 2007 to
2008. Since 2002, he has been with the Department of Mechani-
cal and Electrical Engineering, North China University of Tech-
nology, Beijing. His current research interests include dynamics
and control of robots and micro-electromechanical devices.
Yanan Fan received her B.S. degree in
Mechanical Design, Manufacturing and
Automation from Shan Dong Jiao Tong
University, Jinan, China, in 2017. Cur-
rently she is a master’s degree student in
the Department of Mechanical and Ma-
terials Engineering, North China Univer-
sity of Technology, Beijing, China. Her re-
search interests in variable stiffness con-
trol of parallel mechanism.
Tingting Su received her B.S. degree in
automation from Central South University,
Changsha, China, in 2013, and her Ph.D.
degree in control theory and control en-
gineering from the Institute of Automa-
tion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei-
jing, China, in 2018. She is currently with
the Department of Mechanical and Mate-
rials Engineering, North China University
of Technology, Beijing. Her current research interests include
trajectory planning, robotics, and intelligent control systems.
Lei Zhao received his B.S. degree in pro-
cess equipment and control and a Ph.D. de-
gree in chemical engineering process and
machinery from the Zhejiang University
of China, Hangzhou, China, in 2008 and
2015, respectively. From 2015 to 2016,
he was with the Zhejiang Special Equip-
ment Inspection and Research Institute,
Hangzhou. Since 2016, he has been with
the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, North
China University of Technology, Beijing, China. His current re-
search interests include storage and transportation of hydrogen
energy, micro-electromechanical devices, and microrobotics.
Quanliang Zhao received his M.S. de-
gree in microelectronics and solid state
electronics from Heilongjiang University,
Harbin, China, in 2006, and his Ph.D. de-
gree in material processing engineering
from the Beijing Institute of Technology,
Beijing, China, in 2010. He is currently
with the Department of Mechanical and
Materials Engineering, North China Uni-
versity of Technology, Beijing. His current research interests in-
clude micro-electromechanical systems and functional materi-
als.
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