Robotic snakes

Abstract

Locomotion of biological snakes is very flexible in a sense that it allows to move on rough surfaces, creep into tubes, or cross obstacles. Snakelike robots may be used for inspection and manipulation in areas where motion is restricted. It is difficult to construct a snakelike robot that can move very similar to real snakes, because a lot of equipment has to be put into the snake’s body, the body must have a small diameter, and the proportion of force to weightmust be high. The paper gives an overview on robotic snakes in general and presents a species developed at GMD in particular.