Materials and CAD Files

Structural Components

Electronics and Motors

Hardware

Custom Part Files

Tube Materials

Assembly Guides

Custom Part Manufacturing Guide

Full System Assembly

Cart Assembly

Tube Fabrication

Electronics Setup

Electronics Board Setup

Firmware Installation

Wire Management

Full System Test

Kinematics

Calculating Kinematics of a CTR

Implementing Kinematics

Troubleshooting Kinematics

Experiments

Installing Tubes

Homing the Robot

Graph Paper In-Plane Bending Experiment

Out-of-Plane Rotation Experiment

The actuation system is designed such that tubes can be inserted and removed in under 3 minutes. They use a twist and lock mechanism to allow for both easy access and rigid control.


  1. Assemble your concentric tubes such that they are nested properly within each other.

  2. Separate the carts in the actuation system by about 50mm. This will allow you to reach in between carts to lock the tubes in place.

    Screenshot 2023-10-12 141447.png

  3. Insert the tubes from the front of the actuation system. You will need to twist the tubes to allow the cubes to pass through the carts.

    Screenshot 2023-10-12 141753.png

  4. Insert the innermost tube cube into the last cart. Do not push it all of the way through. Rotate the cube by about $45^\circ$. Insert on the tube locks to hold the tube in place. You should be able to gently tug on the tube without it moving. If the tube moves at all, this means it did not properly lock. You most likely inserted the cube to far into the cart.

Screenshot 2023-10-12 143702.png

  1. Follow step 4 for all other tubes.