A 'sidewinding' locomotion gait for hyper-redundant robots

Abstract

This paper considers the kinematics of a novel form of hyper-redundant mobile robot locomotion which is analogous to the 'sidewinding' locomotion of desert snakes. This form of locomotion can be generated by a repetitive travel wave of mechanism bending. Using a continuous backbone curve model, we develop algorithms which enable travel in a uniform direction as well as changes in direction.