Development of a snake robot moving in a small diameter pipe

Abstract

This paper presents a snake robot moving in a small diameter pipe. A snake robot is a multi-linked modular robot. The snake robot, KAEROT-snake IV consists of 11 2-DOF actuator modules, a head, and a tail module. Each of the 2-DOF actuator modules has two small DC motors and worm gear boxes to increase the torque output and an embedded motor controller. The snake robot can move in a small diameter pipe with a sequence of holding motion as well as with a sinusoidal motion. Some modules holds the robot itself by pressing outward to induce friction while the other modules move forward/backward and hold the robot at a more front/rear position. A sequence of holding moves the robot forward/backward in a small diameter pipe.