Robust adaptive dynamic control of electromagnetically actuated soft-tethered robots for medical intervention

Electromagnetically actuated soft-tethered robots (EASTRs) exhibit significant potential for medical intervention applications due to their compact size and minimal invasiveness. However, their inherent nonlinear behavior and susceptibility to unexpected disturbances present challenges for achieving robust control performance. To address this issue, in this paper, a dynamic model for EASTRs is first established, which encompasses the actuation model of the magnetic tip and the dynamic model of the soft tether. Subsequently, a robust adaptive dynamic controller is designed to compensate for the inaccuracy of the established dynamic model, thus ensuring robust control performance. The proposed approach integrates adaptive laws based on the Lyapunov method to effectively handle time-varying parameters and disturbances. Experimental results present an excellent control accuracy of the proposed scheme in trajectory tracking tasks, showcasing its superior performance compared to passive schemes and classical proportional–derivative control. This research contributes valuable insights into advancing the control capabilities of EASTRs for diverse applications in medical practices.