A Novel Effective Loop Gait and Stabilizing Morphology Parameterization in Snake Robots
Chaoquan Tang, Jingwen Lu, Xiaowen Sun, Erfei Gao, Gongbo Zhou, Gang Wang, Shugen Ma, Eryi Hu
Abstract
Improving motion speed and efficiency remains a critical challenge in snake robots gait control. This paper introduces the Loop gait, a novel locomotion gait designed to enhance both speed and energy efficiency of snake robots without passive wheels. Compared to Crawler gait and S-pedal gait, which are more widely used, the Loop gait has a better motion speed (1.8 times of the Crawler gait in the same parameter) and a better motion efficiency (1.6 times of the Crawler gait in the same parameter) due to its more loop body morphology. A static stability model is developed to guide parameter optimization, addressing potential instability caused by elevated center of mass of snake robots. Experiments confirm the Loop gait’s exceptional energy efficiency and propulsion, validating the static stability model’s utility in selecting parameters.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{iros2025_anoveleffectivel,
title = {A Novel Effective Loop Gait and Stabilizing Morphology Parameterization in Snake Robots},
author = {Chaoquan Tang and Jingwen Lu and Xiaowen Sun and Erfei Gao and Gongbo Zhou and Gang Wang and Shugen Ma and Eryi Hu and Peng Li},
booktitle = {IROS 2025},
year = {2025}
}