Continuum robots with variable stiffness have gained wide popularity in the last decade. Layer jamming (LJ) has emerged as a simple and efficient technique to achieve tunable stiffness for continuum robots. Despite its merits, the development of a control-oriented dynamical model tailored for this specific class of robots remains an open problem in the literature. This paper aims to present the first solution, to the best of our knowledge, to close the gap. We propose an energy-based model that is integrated with the LuGre frictional model for LJ-based continuum robots. Then, we take a comprehensive theoretical analysis for this model, focusing on two fundamental characteristics of LJ-based continuum robots: shape locking and adjustable stiffness. To validate the modeling approach and theoretical results, a series of experiments using our \textit{OctRobot-I} continuum robotic platform was conducted. The results show that the proposed model is capable of interpreting and predicting the dynamical behaviors in LJ-based continuum robots.

翻译：可变刚度连续体机器人在过去十年中得到了广泛的应用。层阻塞作为一种简单且高效的技术，能够实现连续体机器人的可调刚度。尽管具有诸多优点，但针对这类特定机器人的面向控制的动力学建模问题在文献中仍是尚未解决的研究空白。本文旨在提出首个（据我们所知）解决方案以填补这一空白。我们提出了一种基于能量的模型，该模型与LuGre摩擦模型相结合，适用于层阻塞连续体机器人。随后，我们对这一模型进行了全面的理论分析，重点聚焦于层阻塞连续体机器人的两个基本特性：形状锁定与可调刚度。为了验证建模方法与理论结果，我们利用自主研制的\textit{OctRobot-I}连续体机器人平台开展了一系列实验。结果表明，所提出的模型能够解释并预测层阻塞连续体机器人的动力学行为。