Session: MR-05-01 - Motion Planning, Dynamics, and Control of Robots

Paper Number: 87984

87984 - Maneuvering Control of a Planar Snake Robot Locomotion Using a Combined Heading-Velocity-Shape Strategy 

This paper presents a combined shape-velocity-heading control for planar snake robots to navigate confined environments using the lateral undulatory locomotion. The kinematics and dynamics of shape changing were studied to find the connection between the gait parameters of the Serpenoid curve and the width of the robot locomotion while following the desired trajectories. The phase shift in between joint angles was identified as the parameter of interest for controlling the width of snake robots. The controller includes an outer-loop to adjust the parameters of the lateral undulation gait to achieve the desired shape, linear velocity, and heading direction in the Cartesian space while the inner-loop determines the torques at each joint of snake robot to follow the desired joint trajectories. The control algorithm was tested on a planar 6-link snake robot model and was examined in different simulation cases of adjusting the robot's shape to the desired width while maintaining the desired heading direction and linear velocity. The algorithms were developed and examined in a MATLAB simulation environment. The simulation results have shown feasibility and effectiveness of the combined heading, velocity, and shape control algorithm in navigation of a 6-link snake robot in simple and complex simulated multi-channel cluttered environments.

Presenting Author: Mahdi Haghshenas-Jaryani New Mexico State University

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Mahdi Haghshenas-Jaryani is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department and the director of Bioinspired and Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory (Bio2Robotics Lab) at New Mexico State University (NMSU). He received his PhD from UT Arlington in 2014, and his Masters and Bachelors from Sharif University of Technology and University of Tehran in 2009 and 2005, all in mechanical engineering. Before joining NMSU, he was a postdoctoral researcher and a senior research scientist at the UT Arlington Research Institute (UTARI) from 2014 to 2019. His research focuses on the dynamics and control of bio-inspired and shape morphing soft robots for mobility, manipulation, and human-robot interaction with agricultural, medical, and space exploration applications. He has more than 40 journal and peer-reviewed conference papers as well as 20 technical presentations in international conferences, workshops, and symposiums related to dynamics and control of multibody systems, snake-like robots, and soft robotics. His research has been funded by NSF, NASA NM Space Grant, and USDA/NIFA.

Authors:

Mahdi Haghshenas-Jaryani New Mexico State University