Dynamical analysis of sidewinding locomotion by a snake-like robot

In this paper, a dynamical analysis of sidewinding locomotion by a snake like robot is presented. Sidewinding locomotion is treated as a planar movement for simplicity, and the normal forces acting on the grounded links and the torques applied on pitch joints are calculated by solving equilibrium equations. Energy efficiency of sidewinding locomotion is compared with that of lateral undulation. Simulation results show that the sidewinding locomotion is, generally, energetically more efficient, and in the case where the viscous coefficient is small, there is a lower bound in the mean velocity of center of mass for sidewinding locomotion to be more efficient than lateral undulation.