On the motion of a snake‐like soft robot

Abstract

Abstract In this work, we investigate the locomotion of a snake‐like soft robot in terms of its design. Therefore the backbone of the robot is represented by a curve in plane which is actuated by a given curvature. By adding anisotropic friction between robot and surface the robot “moves” on the surface. With this simple model we are able to predict the locomotion of the robot for certain sets of parameters. This allows to evaluate the influence of design changes and hence to facilitate the design process. As an example, we discuss results concerning the precision of actuation, the bending radius of the robot and the influence of friction between robot and surface.