A Unified Continuum Robot Actuation Platform

Open-source hardware and software to help researchers get started with high-DOF robots. We focus on continuum robots, but the platform is agnostic to robot type!

Yunti Xu Aedan Mangan Miheer Potdar Alex Lu Tania K. Morimoto
Left: system overview, an operator at the input device teleoperates the actuation assembly on a serial manipulator over a surgical simulator, driving a TDCR endoscope and a CTR instrument. Right: degrees of freedom, outer yaw, outer pitch and insertion plus actuation-assembly DOFs for a 2-segment TDCR or a 3-tube CTR

Sub-millimeter translational accuracy and less than 5° rotational error, over ranges of 30 mm and 180°, respectively.

Team

Yunti Xu
Yunti Xu
Aedan Mangan
Aedan Mangan
Miheer Potdar
Miheer Potdar
Alex Lu
Alex Lu
Tania K. Morimoto
Tania Morimoto (PI)

Early Adopters

UC San Diego
Stanford
Vanderbilt
UC Santa Barbara
UNC
Driving a tendon-driven continuum robot (TDCR) on a dVRK
Driving a concentric tube robot (CTR) on a dVRK

Design Overview

Annotated CAD render of the actuation assembly: a rotation module and four translation modules on linear rails, with tendons routed to each module and a central working channel
An example actuation assembly for a TDCR. Modules can be reconfigured to match the robot's design and number of DOFs. A central working channel accommodates cameras, forceps, and other tools.

Extensions

The actuation platform in other applications: a notched TDCR navigating around an aortic arch model, a continuum robotic grasper for submucosal resection, and the actuation assembly mounted on a linear stage and on a UR robotic arm
The proposed actuation platform in different applications and mounting configurations. Top (a–b): autonomous navigation of a notched TDCR around the aortic arch [1]; Middle (c–d): continuum robotic grasper for submucosal resection; Bottom (e–f): mounting configurations on a linear stage and a UR robotic arm.

Papers Using the Platform

  1. Contact-Aware Planning and Control of Continuum Robots in Highly Constrained Environments
    Aedan Mangan, Kehan Long, Ki Myung Brian Lee, Miheer Potdar, Nikolay Atanasov, Tania K. Morimoto
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.15638, 2026 · PDF · arXiv

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Noah Jones for his contributions to the electrical integration and initial motor motion control implementation; Sara Sariowan for her contributions to the dVRK attachment design; and Jui-Te Lin for his initial guidance on the instrument actuation design.

BibTeX

@article{xu2026unified,
  title   = {Design and Characterization of a Unified Continuum Robot Actuation Platform},
  author  = {Xu, Yunti and Mangan, Aedan and Potdar, Miheer and Lu, Alex and Morimoto, Tania K.},
  journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2610.19798},
  year    = {2026}
}