Simulation and control integrated framework for modular snake robots locomotion research

Executing challenging tasks in field robotics, commonly depends on the locomotive capabilities of the robot. Particularly, modular snake robots have shown an increasing ability to perform mobility and manipulation tasks in different environments. However, its locomotion strategies are not trivial and the modeling of such type of motion is still an important research goal. Consequently, robust controlling software to command motion and retrieve data is needed. Since the execution of experiments with these robots is expensive and time consuming, computer aided dynamics simulation becomes an indispensable tool to reduce the gap between modeling and real experiments validations. In this paper, a framework architecture to control and simultaneously simulate the modular snake robot locomotion behavior is presented. Using this integrated tool, experiments with real robots can be carried out, simulations of a virtual robot in a user-defined environment can be run and the retrieval of useful data from real or virtual outputs can be performed in a log file.