A Serpentine Robot Designed for Efficient Rectilinear Motion

A Serpentine Robot Designed for Efficient Rectilinear Motion Richard Anthony Primerano Moshe Kam and William Regli Robots that mimic the natural motions of animals have long been of interest in science and engineering. The primary engineering interest in such robots is in having them conduct tasks that require complicated locomotion and cognition. The biological creatures after which the human-made robots are designed manifest a remarkable degree of efficiency and agility when compared to what we have been able to mimic so far in human-made designs. For example, the small cross-section and low center of gravity of most biological snakes, coupled with their large repertoire of possible motion sequences, make their bodies very efficient when navigating confined spaces and rough terrains. To date, no “artificial” snake has been able to come close to duplicating these navigational characteristics. In this study we concentrate on a set of motions observed in medium size (1-4m) biological snakes. There are currently several robot designs that attempt to reproduce the movements of such snakes. Almost all of these designs require the robot to articulate segments of its body in a repetitive sequence to achieve locomotion, and some even attach passive wheels to the snake’s body in order to facilitate movement. As a result of these design decisions, the artificial snakes are generally slow and most (especially those with wheels) are not well suited for travel over rough terrain. We offer an alternative design that propels the snake using many small feet attached to disk-like body units (“ribs”). Due to the superior flexibility that this design provides, the resulting robot, which we have built and tested, can actually “walk” over obstacles and therefore will be much more maneuverable than existing prototypes.