Experimental study of Redundant Snake Robot Based on Kinematic Model

In this paper we consider modeling and control of a redundant snake robot with wheeled link mechanism based on kinematic model. We derive a kinematic model of a snake robot with introducing links without wheels and shape controllable points in the snake robot's body in order to make the system redundancy controllable. By using redundancy, it becomes possible to accomplish the main objective of controlling the position and the attitude of the snake robot head and the shape of the snake robot, and the sub-objective of the singular configuration avoidance. Simulations and experimental results show the validity of the control law and how snake robots move at the neighborhood of the singular configuration.