Snake Motion inspired Robots

Outline

• Robot Motion Models

• Snake Locomotion
• Snake Robot Model
• Proposed Model
• Design and Technical Concerns
• Implications and Future Work
 Motivation
• Occupy a wide variety of ecological niches
• Movement without limbs
• Small cross section to length ratio
• Ability to change the shape of their body

"To walk is human, to slither divine"

Other Models

Applied AI Systems, Inc., Canada

Ijspeert et al
Science 315, 1416
2007
Advantages of Serpentine Locomotion

STABILITY
• Potential Energy low in most situations
• Less probable failure points

TERRAINABILTY
• Can climb heights many times it’s own girth
• No possibility of getting stuck
Advantages of Serpentine Locomotion

TRACTION
• Moving Snake can exert a force upto a 3rd of
it’s own weight
• Large contact area results in greater traction

EFFICIENCY
• Reduced costs due to low COG, elimination of
acceleration and decceleration of limbs
Advantages of Serpentine Locomotion

SIZE & SHAPE

• Small frontal area
• Slender design implies better maneuverabilty

REDUNDANCY
• Employs simple motion actuators in sequence
• Failure/Defect could be easily replaced
Snake Locomotion

Scales & Weight distribution.

Scales have similar design as Wheels and Ice
skates.
•Lateral undulation S-shaped wave travelling from head to tail, it is the
most common and efficient mode, and used by almost all snakes. Snake’s
body moves back and forth causing lateral waves that force longitudinal
motion.
Used mostly in areas with uneven or variable terrain . e.g swimming
snakes, anguilliform swimming lampreys eels.
•Rectilinear locomotion ("inchworm" )employed by the heavyweights snake
like boas & pythons. By cyclically “fixing” parts of the skin to the ground
using scales, and then moving the backbone forward with respect to the skin,
and finally releasing the scales allowing the skin to move forward. Stabbing
and pushing mechanism of the scales. Very slow motion used while
stalking its prey.
•Concertina mode: can be thought of as snake taking steps. Part of the
snake’s body is pushed against a surface forming a small number of waves:
by moving these waves, and the corresponding contact points, the snake
progresses.
The only place where concertina progression is primarily used is by arboreal
snakes on tree limbs as one part is always attached to the tree ,here LU and
RP are difficult.
•Sidewinding is used by desert snakes that need to move on sand; Fastest
mode of locomotion can be thought of as equivalent to horse galloping. In this
mode, the snake lifts a part of the body to maintain only a few contact points
with the ground, using them to move the rest of the body.
Other types of locomotion:

Climbing:The two most common ways of ascent are LU and RP. Hard to
believe a snake lashing itself up a tree, but it does work and ascent is fluid.
When on branches the much safer concertina mode is used in place of the other
two

Swimming:The horizontal undulatory progression lends itself well to moving

through water and is employed by most aquatic serpents. Even large snakes
like Python reticulatus and Eunectes murinus are known to use HUP in the
water (something large boids generally avoid doing on land).

Flying:Flying snakes have longitudinal hinges on their ventral scales which

allows them to create a concavity which creates more surface area for air to
pass through which creates drag, which slows descent and voila, we have flight.

Simulation of Motion

Miller et. Al.

Simulation Implementation
Which Gait should we choose??
Factors influencing Selection
• Speed
• Terrain
• Ability to maneuver
• Energetic efficiency

Lateral Undulation
Configuration Parameters

•Design

•Morphology

•Control System
Design
• Segments – “vertebrae”
• Actuators – “Muscles”
Actuator is a mechanical device for controlling a mechanism.
Takes Energy and converts into motion

Morphological Segments connected by universal joints

Mechanism was proposed by Dr. Hirose and is called Active Cord
Mechanism5
Design Optimization
• Number of Scales and Angle of rotation

For Speed Number Of Segments

But , Number Of Segments Design Complexion

Snakes usually have 100-400 segments

Earlier Models –
Dr. Hirose et. Al.
10 Segments – 20
actuators

S5 – Miller et. Al.

Closest to natural snake
locomotion
32 Segment – 64
actuators
Morphology
Low friction force -in the direction of forward
movement

High friction force - in lateral directions

Achieved By Directionality of scales

Fiber Skins with

various surface
treatments

Dowling et. al.

Control System

“Follow the Head”

Travelling Wave
propagated from head to
tail

Generated from predefined gait

patterns, usually computed as sine
waves
Works pretty well for uniform terrains
Velocity changes with friction
coefficients

Jae-Kwan Ryu et all.

What will happen when the terrain changes??

phase difference between the head and tail

joints will not remain constant – Snake will wriggle in
place
Central Pattern Generators (CPG)
can be defined as neural networks that can endogenously produce
rhythmic patterned outputs

Work On
Feedback
Mechanis
m
Jae-Kwan Ryu et
al.

Matsuoka’s neural oscillators on each joints –

take velocity as input and modulate frequency
 Existing Models

1. Robots that move using powered wheels

http://zedomax.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/servo-snakebot.jpg
 Existing Models

2. Robots that move by applying torques on the

joints between the segments. Can have passive
wheels.

Ref : Hirose et. al

 Technical Concerns

• For search and rescue missions, and possible

medical applications.
Waterproofing.
Completely autonomous.
Distributed control
Different type of movement for different
terrains.
 Remote controlled - GSM against radio-
waves
 Degree of freedom
 Falling over
 The movement patterns obtained with the
robot have to be compared to biological
data.
 Proposed Design

Multiple identical elements – same algorithm,

easy to replace , redundancy

Distributed actuation, power and control

Each individual element is made waterproof

The center of gravity is placed below the
geometrical center.

Large lateral surfaces for good swimming

efficiency.

Asymmetric friction for the lateral undulatory

locomotion
 Controlled by a CPG mechanism

 Remotely controlled in terms of speed and

direction commands, but otherwise have an
onboard locomotion controller for
coordinating its multiple degrees of freedom.
 For better control – servo motors in head and
tail with paddles.

 Sensing – points of contact with the ground.

 Miniaturization – use of bionic arm like

mechanism. 70 % weight is due to motors.
 Proposed Model

Linker Design and mechanism

Ref : Dowling et. al.
 Expected outcome

• Based on the work plan we will get a fully functional robotic

snake which should be capable of autonomous motion in a 3d
environment by mimicking the snake movement of lateral
undulation.

• The robot will be easy to control and will be able to traverse

through rough terrain, rubble, sand, fluids or over obstacles
with ease.

• Making the robot design simple(bionic arm method) , we

should be successfully be able to miniaturize it thus giving us
a lot more interesting applications like medical applications.
Amphibious ACM R5 robot snake –
Hirose Fukushima Robotics Lab

Snake Bot – Sacros designs,

Utah
 Applications

• Can be used to detect leaks in oil pipes

• Can be used in search and exploration
missions during earthquakes and floods.
• Essentially can be used to reach or explore
places which are not easily accessible.
• If scaled down significantly, it could even be
used for a very specific drug delivery system.
Anna Konda – a fire fighting robot,
SINTEF Norway

Robot motion in a fluid

 Future work

• With advancement in technology, we should be able to

make smaller motors which will enable us to make
smaller robot snakes with good control.
• By studying all the methods of movement, we can
design a robot snake to change its motion from
serpentine to concertina to side-winding, simply by
providing different inputs to each segment.
• The material used to make the robot must be improved
upon to better mimic the scales and stretchable skin of
the snake.
Take home message…
• Motivation/Background

•Motion of the snake

•Models and Work plan

•Applications and challenges