Locomotion control of a snake-like robot based on velocity disturbance

This paper presents a novel method based on the velocity disturbance to control the locomotion of a snake-like robot. The inputs are joint torques which are derived from the dynamics equations. The traditional dynamics equations of a snake-like robot are complex, so a simplified dynamics equations are firstly derived based on the differential geometry theory. Then the velocity disturbance is introduced to the simplified dynamics equation and the control method is proposed. The locomotion gait of the snake-like robot is decided by the velocity disturbance. So controlling the velocity disturbance can control the locomotion of the snake-like robot. This method can also avoid the singular posture of the snake-like robot. The numerical simulation results present that the proposed method can control the locomotion of the snake-like robot.