Abstract
Snakes actively utilize terrain irregularities and attain propulsion force by pushing their bodies against scaffolds. The objective of this study is to understand the mechanism underlying this locomotion. Our previous control scheme of a snake-like robot, in which the curvature derivative control method is combined with a reflexive mechanism using local pressures on the body wall, could not fully reproduce innate behavior of real snakes. In this study, we improve our previous control scheme. We show that the locomotion of a simulated robot with the improved control scheme is surprisingly in good agreement with the locomotion of a real snake.
