Closed-loop path following of traveling wave rectilinear motion through obstacle-strewn terrain

Abstract

High-level, closed-loop traversal through obstacle-strewn environments remains an open and challenging endeavor for snake-like robotic platforms. Rectilinear forms of locomotion, despite their unique mobility advantages compared to other gait shapes, have seen relatively little progress toward this objective. A dynamical exposition of traveling wave rectilinear motion is reviewed and applied to generate a functional mapping from gait parameter space to corresponding averaged steady-behavior body velocities. We demonstrate the system dynamics, in this case, resemble that of a fixed forward-velocity unicycle where average body curvature presents itself as a versatile control input, modulating angular body velocity in a linear manner. Target body velocities computed to track non-trivial planned paths, then, are mapped to average body curvature commands, enabling autonomous path following, by a physical, multi-link robotic snake, through a series of distinct obstacle arrangements.