Design, Control and Experiment of a Snake-like Robot with Gripper

Abstract

In this paper, a novel snake-like robot is proposed by attaching a gripper on its head to enhance the exploration and operation abilities of the snake-like robots. First, the mechanical structures of the snake-like robot and the gripper are designed. Second, the physical prototype and its control system are built. Finally, the serpenoid, sidewinding, rolling gaits of our robot are designed based on the kinematics model, and the moving and gripping functions are verified through physical experiments. As a result, our robot has a high potential on moving in complex environments and performing a variety of tasks.