Motion Planning of Planar Snake Robots in Viscous Environments

Omar Itani, Elie A. Shammas, Dany Abou Jaoude

Abstract: In this paper, a systematic motion planning algorithm for planar under-actuated hyper-redundant snake robots in viscous environments is presented. The proposed algorithm generates shape trajectories, i.e., continuous trajectories in the base (shape) space of the snake, that ensure the tracking of desired trajectories defined in the fiber (motion) space of the snake. The proposed motion planning algorithm is formulated as an optimization problem which minimizes the joint velocities. This cost function is also utilized to avoid singular configurations. Finally, the proposed algorithm is validated through simulations using a five-link snake robot.