Design and fabrication of a snake-like robot with lateral undulation gait and experimental study of its motion

In this paper with the aim of simulating snake’s crawling; design and fabrication of a snake-like robot is considered. The lateral undulation is selected as the robot’s gait. To simulate lateral undulation, snake robot body should follow the Serpenoid curve. The relative angles between modules are determined based on the Serpenoid curve. According to the snake’s body structure, the robot is considered modular. To create the Serpenoid curve the minimum and proper number of modules is investigated. The modules are series connected with the parallel axes. For each module, actuation system and transmission mechanism is considered. A control circuit and a computer program are prepared. Then the angular position and the angular velocity changes of each actuator are calculated and transmitted according to the Serpenoid curve parameters. To produce anisotropic friction between the robot and ground, the passive wheels, blades and rubbery surfaces are tested. To find a better robot progression; the serpentine gait test, on the robot motion, is performed experimentally. Finally the appropriate ranges of each Serpenoid parameter are presented.