Investigation of a novel type of locomotion for a snake robot suited for narrow spaces

In snake robot research, one of the most efficient forms of locomotion is the lateral undulation. However, lateral undulation, also known as serpentine locomotion, is ill-suited for narrow spaces, as the body of the snake must assume a certain amount of curvature to propel forward. Other types of motion such as the concertina or rectilinear may be suitable for narrow spaces, but is highly inefficient if the same type of locomotion is used even in open spaces. Though snakes naturally can interchange between the use of serpentine and concertina movement depending on the environment, snake robots based on lateral undulation to date are unable to function satisfactorily in narrow spaces. In undergoing concertina movement, the snake lifts part of its body off the ground to reduce friction; this cannot be reproduced in planar snake robots. To overcome the inability to adapt to narrow spaces, a novel type of a gait is introduced. With slight modifications to the members of the multi-link snake robot, the robot normally developed for lateral undulation is able to utilize the new gait to negotiate narrow spaces. The modifications include alterations to the snake segments as well elements that mimic scales on the underside of the snake body. Scales, often overlooked in locomotion research, play an important role in snake movement by increasing backward and lateral friction while minimizing it in forward direction. This concept provides the basis for movement in the proposed gait. Through kinematic studies the viability of this gait is illustrated

Smart inertial sensor-based navigation system for flexible snake robot

The position and orientation of a robot during the navigation is a big challenge to the researchers. The received signal strength information (RSSI) of Wifi or Bluetooth or RFID is the available way to solve this issue for the localization researches. But the obstacles in the environment are very big challenge for this technology. RSSI should be vulnerable depends on the obstacle, if it is dynamic environment then there is nothing to say about this signal. Thus inertial sensors like accelerometer and rate gyro are chosen for flexible snake robot localization in planar surface navigation. This paper describes the methods of navigation positioning system using inertial sensor and finally, perform the experiment with the flexible snake robot for indoor position and orientation

Cooperative robot and user friendly robot- new challenge in robotics

In the near future many aspect of our life will be encompassed by tasks performing in cooperation with robot. The application of robot in home automation, agriculture production and medical operations etc will indispensable. As a result robot needs to be made human-friendly and to execute tasks in cooperation with human. Researchers proposed many new field of research in Robotics. Cooperative robotics and User friendly robotics are two new area of robotics research. Some researcher is trying to make human like robot. Robots that will be imitate human characteristics in movement, learning etc. Other researchers trying to develop robots which will be entertain human. Another group trying to develop robots and/or control system or robots those will be work cooperatively. In this paper it is tried to gather information regarding these two fields in brief

Investigation on data extraction trends for snake robot

In this paper, an investigation of snake robot movement scenario has been discussed and analyzed. Angular velocity, snake robot movement trends and motion shape are involved in this investigation by implementation of serpentine locomotion. Experiment the real snake to extract motion and force data is quite difficult to handle. Thus a new model of the test bed for robot handling and gathering data are proposed in this research. Grid like elastic strings with a particular tension are installed on the transparent table to extract the snake motion direction data to enable the snake force calculation. Then shape measurement belt and kinect sensor will establish the motion data. A snake robot is developed in this paper to perform the preparatory experimental work to go for the real snake experiment involving snake locomotion in future

Twist analysis of piezoelectric laminated composite plates

Recently scientists are showing interests in smart structures for their capability in controlling structural behavior and monitoring structural health. Twist control of helicopter rotors, micromirrors or shafts in torsional oscillation are the active areas of research where smart materials like piezoceramic crystal or shape memory alloy can play vital roles. In this paper analysis of twisting of piezoelectric laminated composite plates using higher order shear deformation theory has been presented

Modeling of piezoelectric laminated composite plate using finite element analysis

A finite element model for shape control analysis of piezoelectric laminated composite plate is presented in this paper. Elastic field and electric field of the piezoelectric laminated composite plate has been coupled through the linear piezoelectric constitutive equations. Piezoelectric actuators and sensors are modeled as additional layers either to be surface bonded or embedded in the laminated composite plate. A computer code was written in C++ based on the finite element model and was successfully validated with experimental and numerical results that are readily available in the literatures. The effects of actuator voltage, actuator orientation, fiber orientation and actuator placement along the thickness direction have been simulated and analyzed using the present model