A Novel 2-DOF Cable-Driven Flexible Manipulator Driven by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

Cable-driven flexible manipulators are highly flexible and adapt well to complex, unstructured environments. Existing cable-driven flexible manipulators typically employ motor-driven actuators, which result in reduced inherent compliance and pose significant safety risks during interaction with the environment. To address these challenges, this study proposes a 2-DOF cable-driven flexible manipulator driven by pneumatic artificial muscles, with the aim of enhancing compliance and improving safety during interaction. Given the complexity and numerous internal components of the articulated joint segment, conventional dynamic analysis methods are difficult to apply effectively. To overcome these challenges and improve computational efficiency, an equivalent inverse dynamics model for the articulated joint segment is developed. To further improve trajectory tracking accuracy, a cable-length control algorithm based on “PID + feedforward compensation” is designed. Finally, a trajectory tracking simulation platform for the cable-driven flexible manipulator is constructed, validating the high-precision trajectory tracking performance of the control algorithm and further confirming the accuracy and effectiveness of the equivalent inverse dynamics model.