SenSnake: A snake robot with contact force sensing for studying locomotion in complex 3-D terrain

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ramesh, Divya, Fu, Qiyuan, Li, Chen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2021
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author Ramesh, Divya
Fu, Qiyuan
Li, Chen
author_facet Ramesh, Divya
Fu, Qiyuan
Li, Chen
contents Despite advances in a diversity of environments, snake robots are still far behind snakes in traversing complex 3-D terrain with large obstacles. This is due to a lack of understanding of how to control 3-D body bending to push against terrain features to generate and control propulsion. Biological studies suggested that generalist snakes use contact force sensing to adjust body bending in real time to do so. However, studying this sensory-modulated force control in snakes is challenging, due to a lack of basic knowledge of how their force sensing organs work. Here, we take a robophysics approach to make progress, starting by developing a snake robot capable of 3-D body bending with contact force sensing to enable systematic locomotion experiments and force measurements. Through two development and testing iterations, we created a 12-segment robot with 36 piezo-resistive sheet sensors distributed on all segments with compliant shells with a sampling frequency of 30 Hz. The robot measured contact forces while traversing a large obstacle using vertical bending with high repeatability, achieving the goal of providing a platform for systematic experiments. Finally, we explored model-based calibration considering the viscoelastic behavior of the piezo-resistive sensor, which will for useful for future studies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2112_09078
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle SenSnake: A snake robot with contact force sensing for studying locomotion in complex 3-D terrain
Ramesh, Divya
Fu, Qiyuan
Li, Chen
Robotics
Biological Physics
Despite advances in a diversity of environments, snake robots are still far behind snakes in traversing complex 3-D terrain with large obstacles. This is due to a lack of understanding of how to control 3-D body bending to push against terrain features to generate and control propulsion. Biological studies suggested that generalist snakes use contact force sensing to adjust body bending in real time to do so. However, studying this sensory-modulated force control in snakes is challenging, due to a lack of basic knowledge of how their force sensing organs work. Here, we take a robophysics approach to make progress, starting by developing a snake robot capable of 3-D body bending with contact force sensing to enable systematic locomotion experiments and force measurements. Through two development and testing iterations, we created a 12-segment robot with 36 piezo-resistive sheet sensors distributed on all segments with compliant shells with a sampling frequency of 30 Hz. The robot measured contact forces while traversing a large obstacle using vertical bending with high repeatability, achieving the goal of providing a platform for systematic experiments. Finally, we explored model-based calibration considering the viscoelastic behavior of the piezo-resistive sensor, which will for useful for future studies.
title SenSnake: A snake robot with contact force sensing for studying locomotion in complex 3-D terrain
topic Robotics
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.09078