Abstract
AbstractThis communication presents and justifies ideas related to motion control of snake robots that are currently the subject of ongoing investigations by the authors. In particular, we highlight requirements for intelligent and effcient snake robot locomotion in unstructured environments, and subsequently we present two new design concepts for snake robots that comply with these requirements. The first design concept is an approach for sensing environment contact forces, which is based on measuring the joint constraint forces at the connection between the links of the snake robot. The second design concept involves allowing the cylindrical surface of each link of a snake robot to rotate by a motor inside the link in order to induce propulsive forces on the robot from its environments. The paper details the advantages of the proposed design concepts over previous snake robot designs.
Highlights
I NSPIRED by biological snake locomotion, snake robots carry the potential of meeting the growing need for robotic mobility in unknown and challenging environments
The first contribution is a set of requirements that the authors consider vital to intelligent and efficient snake robot locomotion in unknown and unstructured environments, namely environment sensing and adaptation, and a smooth robot body surface which is free of obstructive features
The advantage of this approach is that force measurements are only required at the locations of the joints, and that the sensor system can be well protected inside the snake robot
Summary
I NSPIRED by biological snake locomotion, snake robots carry the potential of meeting the growing need for robotic mobility in unknown and challenging environments These mechanisms typically consist of serially connected joint modules capable of bending in one or more planes. The third contribution is a design concept where the cylindrical surface of each link of a snake robot is allowed to rotate by a motor inside the link in order to produce external forces in the transversal direction of the links. These forces will propel the robot forward if the cylinder rotation is coordinated with the angle that each link forms with the forward direction.
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