Abstract: As research into continuum robots flourishes, there are more and more types of continuum robots, which require researchers to tirelessly design robot-specific motion control algorithms. Besides, the convergence time of control systems for continuum robots has received very little attention. In this paper, we propose a novel predefined-time convergent zeroing dynamics (PTCZD) model, which ensures that the associated error-monitoring function converges to zero in predefined-time. Based on the PTCZD model, we design an inverse kinematics solver and a state estimator for continuum robots, thereby obtaining a generic predefined-time convergent control method for heterogeneous continuum robots for the first time. Simulations and experiments based on cable-driven continuum robots and concentric tube continuum robots are performed to verify the efficacy, robustness and adaptability of the proposed control method. In addition, comparative studies are carried out to demonstrate its advantages against existing control methods for continuum robots.
