Motion Design of a Snake Robot to Move Between Two Adjacent Walls

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel motion design for a snake robot to move freely in a space between two adjacent walls. Snake robots are expected to be useful in several difficult environments because of their high degrees of freedom. Particularly, they are suitable for use in narrow spaces. However, freely moving in narrow spaces, such as spaces between two adjacent walls, remains an open problem. In this study, inspired by helical rolling motion, which is used to move on a pipe, we propose a novel motion method that enables a snake robot to move freely in a narrow space between two adjacent walls. The motion and model are validated using physical simulations.