Modelling of Soft Continuum Robotic Manipulators: Approaches, Limitations and Future Prospects

The continuous and soft robotic hand-like manipulators have gained more attention in recent years due to their high versatility and flexibility in the harsh environment. The three key types of modelling approaches employed in the presented study to perform soft robotics, discussed in the continuum mechanics model, the geometric models, and the data-driven or hybrid approaches, are these. The basic concepts and general modeling approaches to each category are described with the focus on the various strategies to describe the motion and the deformation actions of the soft manipulator arm. The potential further research areas are also explored, in particular the integration of the learning-based and the physical modelling techniques to improve the performance of the modeling. In general, this discussion contains a systematic overview of current modelling methods and the window into the future of the soft robotics modelling research.