Collaborative Continuum Robots: A Survey from an Automation-System Perspective

Abstract

Continuum robots (CRs), owing to their compact structure, inherent compliance, and flexible deformation, have been widely applied in various fields. By coordinating multiple CRs to form collaborative continuum robots (CCRs), task adaptability, flexibility and load capacity can be further improved, thus offering significant advantages. In recent years, interest in this emerging field has grown steadily within the continuum-robotics community. In this survey, a closed-loop task-execution architecture for CCRs is constructed from an automation-system perspective, clarifying the system-level logic that transforms target-task specifications into multi-CR collaborative execution. Based on this architecture, CCRs are classified into three representative collaboration modes, namely separated collaboration, assistance collaboration, and parallel collaboration. Research progress is then systematically summarized and analyzed in terms of key technologies, including multi-CR task allocation, structural design, modeling, motion planning methods, control strategies, and sensing mechanisms. Finally, research opportunities in key technologies and system integration challenges for real-world deployment are discussed, providing guidance for research and application of CCRs.