DESIGN OF TENDON-DRIVEN MANIPULATORS

This paper presents an overview of the current state-of-the-art in the design of tendon-driven manipulators. A special characteristic associ ated with tendon-driven manipulators is that tendons can only exert te nsion bur not compression. Based on this unique characteristic, the fu ndamental mechanics associated with the design of tendon-driven manipu lators are reviewed The review includes structure classification, kine matics, statics, dynamics and control.