Robot Snake

Snake Robot

Team Members

• Michael Hwang - Electrical Engineer - Class 2008
• Andrew Long - Mechanical Engineer - Class 2009
• Clara Smart - Electrical Engineer - Class 2009

Hwang-Long-Smart

Snake Motion

Source: How Stuff Works

Snakes are reptiles that are able to adapt their movement to various environments. Furthermore, snakes can even move across extreme environments such as sand, mud and water. Research has discovered that there are four types of snake motion. As shown in the image, these motions include serpentine movement, rectilinear movement, concertina movement and side-winding movement.<ref>Ma, Shugen. "Analysis of creeping locomotion of a snake-like robot." Advanced Robotics Vol.15, No.2 (2001): 205</ref> The most common motion exhibited by most snakes is serpentine motion where section follows a similar path. In order for snakes to successfully locomote using serpentine motion, the belly of the snake must have anisotropic coefficient of friction for the normal and tangential directions. Specifically, the normal friction must be greater than the tangential friction. As a result, when the snake exhibits a force on the ground, it will move in the tangential direction without slipping in the normal direction.<ref>Saito, Fukaya, Iwasaki. "Serpentine Locomotion with Robotic Snakes". IEEE Control Systems Magazine (Feb 2002): 66.<ref/>

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