Maneuvering Control of Planar Snake Robots Based on a Simplified Model

Abstract

This paper considers maneuvering control of planar snake robots, for which the equations of motion are described based on a simplified model. In particular, we aim to stabilize a desired straight line path for the position of the center of mass of the robot, and to regulate the forward velocity of the robot along the path to a constant reference velocity. In order to solve this problem, we first stabilize a desired gait pattern for the fully-actuated body shape variables of the robot. Furthermore, we use the parameters of this gait pattern in the form of two dynamic compensators which control orientation and position of the robot in the plane. In particular, by solving the maneuvering problem, we control the body shape, orientation, and planar position of the robot.