Guided Locomotion in 3D for Snake Robots Based on Contact Force Optimization - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University

Guided Locomotion in 3D for Snake Robots Based on Contact Force Optimization

H. Ponte, M. Travers, and H. Choset
Conference Paper, Proceedings of (IROS) IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 2482 - 2487, September, 2014

Abstract

The versatility of snake robots has led to their use in a wide variety of settings, including archaeological sites, natural disaster zones, and nuclear power plants. Currently, snake robots locomote through these rugged environments using repeatable pre-programmed motions, often with underwhelming performance. This paper presents the novel design of a control architecture that addresses the limitations of pre-programmed motions by using contact information from the environment. The controller uses contact force optimization, a concept taken from the field of manipulation, in combination with gain scheduling, to perturb existing gait controllers to perform better in three-dimensional environments. The efficacy of the controller is tested in a simulation of a snake robot on rugged terrain.

BibTeX

@conference{Ponte-2014-107822,
author = {H. Ponte and M. Travers and H. Choset},
title = {Guided Locomotion in 3D for Snake Robots Based on Contact Force Optimization},
booktitle = {Proceedings of (IROS) IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems},
year = {2014},
month = {September},
pages = {2482 - 2487},
}