Kinematic analysis of snake-like robot using sliding joints

The snake-like robot can be adaptive to many terrains with its abundant gaits. Serpentine locomotion is adopted widely, while concertina, side winding and rectilinear motions are considered little. To improve the adaptability in non-known environment, it is essential to include more locomotion methods into one robot. In that case, the robot can change its gaits according to the environment. In this research, a robot using additional sliding joints was proposed and the related kinematics analysis was performed. This robot can not only realize both the serpentine and the rectilinear motion, but also the fusion of two motions. This robot is expected to have a higher adaptability to complex environment.