Modular snake robot gaits on horizontal pipes

Abstract

In this paper, a comparative analysis of different gaits were done using modular snake robots. They move along different sizes of horizontal pipes. Pipe sizes were chosen according to robot's length. Gaits were chosen to match robot stability and effectiveness criteria on these surfaces. A description of gait design process is shown. Parametrized schemes were used to control the robot. A visualization tool was used to validate the gait designs prior their implementation on the real robot. Performance metrics, regarding robot's locomotion speed and energy efficiency were developed. A series of experiments were carried out to compare the performance of the selected gaits under these criteria. The experiments can be observed on the accompanying video. Among selected gaits, lateral rolling has demonstrated to be suitable for every pipe size. The fastest speed v = 46.5cm/s, and the most efficient locomotion, under the metrics proposed here, are also shown.