A Driving Direction Estimation Algorithm for Obstacle Avoidance of a Wheel-less Snake Robot

This paper describes a driving direction estimation algorithm of a wheel-less snake robot and verifies that the algorithm allows the robot to locomote as desired in ROS-based simulation. Snake robots have serious operational difficulties since their driving directions are not intuitive. Therefore, a driving direction should be estimated for autonomous locomotion, such as path tracking and obstacle avoidance. A driving direction estimation algorithm based on the kinematics of the snake robot is used with path planning and tracking algorithms. The suggested driving direction estimation algorithm allowed straightness improvement and path tracking in the simulation environment.