Refereed Journal Articles
M. Bentley, C. Rucker and A. Kuntz, "Interactive-Rate Supervisory Control for Arbitrarily-Routed Multitendon Robots via Motion Planning," in IEEE Access, vol. 10, pp. 80999-81019, 2022
V. Aloi, K. T. Dang, E. J. Barth and C. Rucker, "Estimating Forces Along Continuum Robots," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 8877-8884, Oct. 2022
P. E. Dupont, N. Simaan, H. Choset and C. Rucker, "Continuum Robots for Medical Interventions," in Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 110, no. 7, pp. 847-870, July 2022
C. Rucker and P. M. Wensing, "Smooth Parameterization of Rigid-Body Inertia," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 2771-2778, April 2022
L. H. Blumenschein, M. Koehler, N. S. Usevitch, E. W. Hawkes, D. C. Rucker and A. M. Okamura, "Geometric Solutions for General Actuator Routing on Inflated-Beam Soft Growing Robots," in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 1820-1840, June 2022
C. Rucker, J. Childs, P. Molaei and H. B. Gilbert, "Transverse Anisotropy Stabilizes Concentric Tube Robots," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 2407-2414, April 2022
K. Oliver-Butler, J. A. Childs, A. Daniel and D. C. Rucker, "Concentric Push–Pull Robots: Planar Modeling and Design," in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 1186-1200, April 2022
F. Renda, C. Messer, C. Rucker and F. Boyer, "A Sliding-Rod Variable-Strain Model for Concentric Tube Robots," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 3451-3458, April 2021
J.A. Childs and C. Rucker, Leveraging Geometry to Enable High-Strength Continuum Robots, Front. Robot. AI, 18 February 2021 Sec. Soft Robotics, Volume 8 - 2021, doi:10.3389/frobt.2021.629871
Sadati SMH, Naghibi SE, Shiva A, et al. TMTDyn: A Matlab package for modeling and control of hybrid rigid–continuum robots based on discretized lumped systems and reduced-order models. The International Journal of Robotics Research. 2021;40(1):296-347.
J. Till, V. Aloi, K. E. Riojas, P. L. Anderson, R. J. Webster III and C. Rucker, A Dynamic Model for Concentric Tube Robots, in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 1704-1718, Dec. 2020
S. M. H. Sadati et al., Stiffness Imaging With a Continuum Appendage: Real-Time Shape and Tip Force Estimation From Base Load Readings, in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 2824-2831, April 2020
J. A. Childs and C. Rucker, Concentric Precurved Bellows: New Bending Actuators for Soft Robots, in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 1215-1222, April 2020
K. E. Riojas, P. L. Anderson, R. A. Lathrop, S. D. Herrell, D. C. Rucker and R. J. Webster, A Hand-Held Non-Robotic Surgical Tool With a Wrist and an Elbow, in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 66, no. 11, pp. 3176-3184, Nov. 2019
Till J, Aloi V, Rucker C. Real-time dynamics of soft and continuum robots based on Cosserat rod models. The International Journal of Robotics Research. vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 723-746, 2019
K. Oliver-Butler, J. Till, and D. C. Rucker. Continuum Robot Stiffness Under External Loads and Prescribed Tendon Displacements. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 403-419, April 2019.
D. C. Rucker. Integrating Rotations using Non-Unit Quaternions. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 2979-2986, June 2018.
C. B. Black, J. Till, and D. C. Rucker. Parallel Continuum Robots: Modeling, Analysis, and Actuation-Based Force Sensing. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 29-47, February 2018.
J. Till and D. C. Rucker. Elastic Stability of Cosserat Rods and Parallel Continuum Robots. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 718-733, June 2017.
H. Su, G. Li, D. C. Rucker, R. J. Webster III, G. Fischer. A Concentric Tube Continuum Robot with Piezoelectric Actuation for MRI-Guided Closed-loop Targeting. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 1-11, 2016.
A. Orekhov, C. Bryson, J. Till, S. Chung, and D. C. Rucker. Analysis and Validation of a Teleoperated Surgical Parallel Continuum Manipulator. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 1(2), 828-835, 2016.
J. Burgner-Kahrs*, D.C. Rucker*, H. Choset. Continuum Robots for Medical Applications: A Survey. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 31(6), 1261-1280, 2015. *equal contribution
A. L. Simpson, K. Sun, T. S. Pheiffer, D. C. Rucker, A. K. Sills, R. C. Thompson, M. I. Miga. Evaluation of Conoscopic Holography for Estimating Resection Cavities in Model-Based Image-Guided Neurosurgery. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 61(6), 1833-1843, 2014.
T. S. Pheiffer, R. C. Thompson, D. C. Rucker, A. L. Simpson, M. I. Miga. Model-Based Correction of Tissue Compression for Tracked Ultrasound in Soft Tissue Image-Guided Surgery. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 40(4), 788-803, 2014.
D. C. Rucker, Y. Wu, L. W. Clements, J. E. Ondrake, T. S. Pheiffer, A. L. Simpson, W. R. Jarnagin, and Michael I. Miga, A Mechanics-Based Nonrigid Registration Method for Liver Surgery using Sparse Intraoperative Data. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 33(1), 147-158, 2014.
J. Burgner, D. C. Rucker, H. B. Gilbert, P. J. Swaney, P. T. Russell, K. D. Weaver, and R. J. Webster III. A Telerobotic System for Transnasal Surgery. IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, 19(3), 996-1006, 2014.
D. C. Rucker, H. B. Gilbert, P. J. Swaney, J. Das, M. I. Miga, N. Sarkar, and R. J. Webster III. Sliding-Mode Control of Steerable Needles. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 29(5), 1289-1299, 2013.
J. Burgner, P. J. Swaney, T. L. Bruns, M. S. Clark, D. C. Rucker, E. C. Burdette, and R. J. Webster III. An Autoclavable Steerable Cannula Manual Deployment Device: Design and Accuracy Analysis. ASME Journal of Medical Devices, 6(4), 041007, 2012.
D. C. Rucker and R. J. Webster III. Statics and Dynamics of Continuum Robots with General Tendon Routing and External Loading. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 27(6), 1033-1044, 2011.
D. C. Rucker, B. A. Jones, and R. J. Webster III. A Geometrically Exact Model for Externally Loaded Concentric Tube Continuum Robots. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 26(5), 769-780, 2010.
D. C. Rucker, R. J. Webster III, G. S. Chirikjian, and N. J. Cowan. Equilibrium Conformations of Concentric-Tube Continuum Robots. International Journal of Robotics Research, 29(10), 1263-1280, 2010.
D. C. Rucker and R. J. Webster III. Parsimonious Evaluation of Concentric-Tube Continuum Robot Equilibrium Conformation. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 56(9), 2308-2311, 2009.
Book Chapters
H. B. Gilbert, D. C. Rucker, and R. J. Webster III. Concentric Tube Robots: The State of the Art and Future Directions. 16th International Symposium of Robotics Research, 2013. To appear in Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics.
D. C. Rucker and R. J. Webster III. Mechanics of Continuum Robots with General Tendon Routing Paths Under External Loading. 12th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics 2010. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, 79, 645-654, 2014.
Refereed Conference Papers
A. Y. Alkayas, D. Feliu-Talegon, A. T. Mathew, C. Rucker and F. Renda, "Shape and Tip Force Estimation of Concentric Tube Robots Based on Actuation Readings Alone," 2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Singapore, Singapore, 2023, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1109/RoboSoft55895.2023.10121920.
C. Rucker, E. J. Barth, J. Gaston and J. C. Gallentine, "Task-Space Control of Continuum Robots using Underactuated Discrete Rod Models," 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, Japan, 2022, pp. 10967-10974
Ertop, TE, Emerson, M, Rox, M, Granna, J, Webster, R, Maldonado, F, Gillaspie, E, Lester, M, Kuntz, A, Rucker, C, Fu, M, Hoelscher, J, Fried, I, & Alterovitz, R. Steerable Needle Trajectory Following in the Lung: Torsional Deadband Compensation and Full Pose Estimation With 5DOF Feedback for Needles Passing Through Flexible Endoscopes. Proceedings of the ASME 2020 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference. October 5–7, 2020. V001T05A003
Sadati, H., Shiva, A., Renson, L., Rucker, C., Althoefer, K., Nanayakkara, T., Bergeles, C., Hauser, H., & Walker, I. D. (2019). Reduced Order vs. Discretized Lumped System Models with Absolute and Relative States for Continuum Manipulators. Paper presented at Royal Statistics Society International Conference 2019, Belfast, United Kingdom.
V. A. Aloi and D. C. Rucker, Estimating Loads Along Elastic Rods, 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Montreal, QC, Canada, 2019, pp. 2867-2873
V. Aloi, C. Black, and D. C. Rucker. Stiffness Control of Parallel Continuum Robots. ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, 2018.
J. Till and D. C. Rucker. Elastic Rod Dynamics: Validation of a Real-Time Implicit Approach. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 3013 – 3019, 2017. (video)
A. Orekhov, V. Aloi, and D. C. Rucker. Modeling Parallel Continuum Robots with General Intermediate Constraints. IEEE/RAS International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2017, 6142-6149.
K. Oliver-Butler, Z. H. Epps, and D. C. Rucker. Concentric Agonist-antagonist Robots for Minimally Invasive Surgeries. Proc. SPIE 10135, Medical Imaging 2017: Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling.
R. Ponten, C. B. Black, A. J. Russ, and D. C. Rucker. Analysis of a concentric-tube robot design and feasibility for endoscopic deployment. Proc. SPIE 10135, Medical Imaging 2017: Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling.
K. Oliver-Butler, A. L. Orekhov, J. Childs, and D. C. Rucker. A Rigid Mechanism with Uniform, Variable Curvature. ASME Design of Medical Devices Conference, 2016. ASME Journal of Medical Devices, 10(3), 2016. (Presentation Slides)
A. Orekhov, C. Bryson, J. Till, S. Chung, and D. C. Rucker. A Surgical Parallel Continuum Manipulator with a Cable-Driven Grasper. Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2015. EMBS 2015. 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE
J. Till, C.E. Bryson, S. Chung, A. Orekhov, and D.C. Rucker. Efficient Computation of Multiple Coupled Cosserat Rod Models for Real-Time Simulation and Control of Parallel Continuum Manipulators. IEEE/RAS International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2015, 5067-5074.
C. E. Bryson and D. C. Rucker. Toward Parallel Continuum Manipulators. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 778-785, 2014 Best Manipulation Paper Award. (video)
Y. Wu, D. C. Rucker, R. H. Conley, T. S. Pheiffer, A. L. Simpson, S. K. Geeverghese, M. I. Miga, Registration of Liver Images to Minimally Invasive Intraoperative Surface and Subsurface Data. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling, 90360V, 2014
D. C. Rucker, Y. Wu, J. E. Ondrake, T. S. Phei.er, A. L. Simpson, and M. I. Miga. Nonrigid Liver Registration for Image-Guided Surgery using Partial Surface Data: A Novel Iterative Approach. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling, 86710B, 2013.
H. Su*, D. C. Cardona*, W. Shang, A. Camilo, G. A. Cole, D. C. Rucker, R. J. Webster III, and G. S. Fischer. A MRI-Guided Concentric Tube Continuum Robot with Piezoelectric Actuation: A Feasibility Study. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1939-1945, 2012. (* shared .first authorship). Best Medical Robotics Paper Finalist
P. J. Swaney, J. M. Croom, J. Burgner, H. B. Gilbert, D. C. Rucker, P. T. Russell III, K. D. Weaver, and R. J. Webster III, “Design of a Quadramanual Robot for Single-Nostril Skull Base Surgery”, in ASME Dynamic Systems and Control, 2012
P. J. Swaney, J. Burgner, T. S. Phei.er, D. C. Rucker, H. B. Gilbert, J. E. Ondrake, A. L. Simpson, E. C. Burdette, M. I. Miga, and R. J. Webster III. Tracked 3D Ultrasound Targeting with an Active Cannula. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling, 8316R, 2012.
D. C. Rucker and R. J. Webster III. Deflection-Based Force Sensing for Continuum Robots: A Probabilistic Approach IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 3764 – 3769, 2011.
J. Burgner, P. J. Swaney, D. C. Rucker, H. B. Gilbert, S. T. Nill, P. T. Russell III, K. D. Weaver, and R. J. Webster III. A Bimanual Teleoperated System for Endonasal Skull Base Surgery. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2517 – 2523, 2011.
D. C. Rucker and R. J. Webster III. Computing Jacobians and Compliance Matrices for Externally Loaded Continuum Robots. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 945 – 950, 2011.
D. C. Rucker, B. A. Jones, and R. J. Webster III. A Model for Concentric Tube Continuum Robots Under Applied Wrenches. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1047-1052, 2010.
R. A. Lathrop, D. C. Rucker, and R. J. Webster III. Guidance of a Steerable Cannula Robot in Soft Tissue Using Preoperative Imaging and Conoscopic Surface Contour Sensing. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 5601-5606, 2010.
J. M. Croom, D. C. Rucker, J. M. Romano, and Robert J. Webster III. Visual Sensing of Continuum Robot Shape Using Self-Organizing Maps. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 4591-4596, 2010.
E. C. Burdette, D. C. Rucker, P. Prakash, C. J. Diederich, J. M. Croom, C. Clarke, P. J. Stolka, T. Juang, E. M. Boctor, and R. J.Webster III. The ACUSITT Ultrasonic Ablator: The First Steerable Needle with an Integrated Interventional Tool. SPIE Medical Imaging: Ultrasonic Imaging, Tomography, and Therapy, 76290V, 2010.
E. M. Boctor, P. Stolka, C. Clarke, D. C. Rucker, J. M. Croom, E. C. Burdette, and R. J. Webster III. Precisely Shaped Acoustic Ablation of Tumors Utilizing Steerable Needle and 3D Ultrasound Image Guidance. SPIE Medical Imaging, Visualization, Image-Guided Procedures, and Modeling, 76252N, 2010.
D. Schurzig, Z. W. Smith, D. C. Rucker, R. F. Labadie and R. J. Webster III. A Manual Insertion Mechanism for Percutaneous Cochlear Implantation. ASME Design of Medical Devices Conference, 2010.
J. Das, D. C. Rucker, and R. J. Webster III. A Testbed for Multi-Lumen Steerable Needle Experiments. ASME Design of Medical Devices Conference, 2010.
D. C. Rucker and R. J. Webster III. Mechanics of Bending, Torsion, and Variable Pre-curvature in Multi-Tube Active Cannulas. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2533-2537, 2009.
D. C. Rucker and R. J. Webster III. Mechanics-Based Modeling of Bending and Torsion in Active Cannulas. IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, 704-709, 2008.
Dissertations
R. Ponten. Design of a Robotic Instrument Manipulator for Endoscopic Deployment. MS Thesis, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN, 2017.
C. B. Black. Modeling, Analysis, Force Sensing and Control of Continuum Robots for Minimally Invasive Surgery. PhD Dissertation, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN, 2017.
D. C. Rucker. The Mechanics of Continuum Robots: Model-Based Sensing and Control. PhD Dissertation, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN, 2011.
C. B. Black, W. Li, and B. Levy. Evaluating Multi-sensory Learning and Relationship Building through STEMpunk: a Reverse Science Fair. 2nd Annual Women in STEM Research Symposium, 2016.
K. Oliver-Butler, A. Orekhov, J. Childs, and D. C. Rucker. Rigid Mechanism with Uniform, Variable Curvature. 2nd Annual Women in STEM Research Symposium, 2016.
K. Oliver-Butler, A. Orekhov, J. Childs, and D. C. Rucker. Rigid Mechanism with Uniform, Variable Curvature. National Conference on Undergraduate Research, 2016.
K. Oliver-Butler, A. Orekhov, J. Childs, and D. C. Rucker. Rigid Mechanism with Uniform, Variable Curvature. Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement, 2016.
K. Oliver-Butler, A. Orekhov, J. Childs, and D. C. Rucker. Rigid Mechanism with Uniform, Variable Curvature. Vanderbilt Institute in Surgery and Engineering (VISE) Symposium, 2015.
S. Chung, C. Bryson, J. Till, J. Carlton, and D. C. Rucker. Teleoperation of Parallel Continuum Manipulators using Approximate Kinematic Models. IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2014.
C. E. Bryon, A. Orekhov, and D. C. Rucker. Miniature Continuum Stewart-Gough Platforms for Endoscopic Surgery. Vanderbilt Institute in Surgery and Engineering (VISE) Symposium, 2013.