Self-Excited Locomotion of a Snake Mechanism.

Abstract

Snake-like animal locomotion by means of friction force can perform many kinds of motion and body shape. We have proposed the method of locomotion based on self-excitation principle in order to realize the high speed and high efficiency locomotion. In this study, we applied the self-excited locomotion to a snake mechanism. First we analyzed the kinematics and the dynamics of a three link snake mechanism driven by the self-excitation. Then we manufactured a prototype of a snake robot. By experimental identification of the traction parameters of the robot, we showed a good agreement between the experimental and simulated results and a high locomotion velocity of 0.4[m/s]. We further showed the high efficiency of the self-excited snake locomotion.