Developing Serpentine Robot Control to use Lateral Affordances

William R Hutchison R Hutchison

doi:10.4172/2168-9695.1000108

Abstract

This paper describes the unique challenges in developing control of complex lateral movements needed by a serpentine robot to ascend steep slopes by climbing over and around affordances/obstacles on the slope. The research extends previous serpentine robot work developing control of sagittal movements for climbing up stairs and over uneven parallel bars. Effective lateral control was developed using an iterative combination of learning, a genetic algorithm, and developer programming. The robot's many simultaneous movements were controlled mostly as a function of very local sensory inputs and little centralized coordination.

Highlights

Snakes can traverse as wide a range of terrains as almost any animal, with unique advantages in terrains with narrow passageways and wide horizontal and vertical gaps that can be spanned by their long bodies
Much research has focused on developing methods for controlling lateral movements involving only ventral contact, but many of the terrains of interest for these robots require the use of lateral affordances, sometimes referred to as obstacles
Transeth et al [10] provide a sophisticated analysis of the physics of lateral movements with affordances, but they do not provide a control strategy to enable the robot to actively locate and use affordances not appropriately located along the robot's default path

Summary

Introduction

Snakes can traverse as wide a range of terrains as almost any animal, with unique advantages in terrains with narrow passageways and wide horizontal and vertical gaps that can be spanned by their long bodies. Aim and propagate: The most common control approach potentially usable in real applications takes advantage of the fact that the bodies of active drive serpentine robots usually follow approximately the same path as the head.

Results

Conclusion