Multi-modal Locomotion Control Structure of Snake Robot Based on Central Pattern Generator

One of the main advantages of snake-like robot over wheeled vehicles is its capability to move with different modes of locomotion, also called gait, due to their kinematic redundancies. Utilizing various gaits in control structure of snake robot is an issue of great importance. In this paper, we propose a control structure that utilizes two different gaits, serpentine and spinning gait. The rhythmic movements of snake robot are driven by the biological neural networks, called the central pattern generators (CPGs). The CPGs are modelled as nonlinear oscillators for joints. The inter-joint coordination is achieved by altering the connection weights between joints. The CPG-based online gait generation method allows elegant and smooth transitions between gaits. It can also be used to construct a control structure to guide the snake robot from an initial to final position while avoiding obstacles by changing CPG parameters. Simulations with different obstacle arrangement confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method

Keywords:

biologically inspired robot , snake robot , central pattern generator , multi-modal locomotion , serpentine gait