Serpentine Arm

Systems Design, Integration, and Test

Use of tele-operated robotic manipulators for inspection applications continues to increase as more dexterous manipulators are developed and become available. The vision of a fully flexible mechanical manipulator, capable of bending in any desired direction to reach through a field of obstacles to any desired point in the operating space, has motivated Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers to build the serpentine robotic manipulator.

The serpentine robotic manipulator features an 80-inch serpentine arm with 14 degrees of freedom (DOF). Each of its six active universal joints rotates through ±60-degrees of arc. The manipulator's shoulder joint is capable of three revolutions. An operator-controlled, 6-DOF and "space mouse" maneuvers the manipulator's distal link through three-dimensional space. A virtual manipulator and graphical user interface is displayed on the control computer to assist the operator with maneuvering the manipulator. End effector utilities include a stereoscopic camera system, a parallel jaw gripper, and provisions for application specific tools.

The manipulator, developed by PNNL, has proven to be unusually flexible with the capability of reaching through a field of obstacles to a specified work space. The highly dexterous 14-DOF serpentine robotic manipulator demonstrated its effectiveness by performing inspection and other related tasks.

Project Contact: J. Willett