2024/11/20 by Adarsh Salagame, Salagame, Adarsh, Eric Sihite +3
Computer Science · Engineering · #Control and Dynamics of Mobile Robots #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Electrical engineering #Robotic Path Planning Algorithms #Robotics (cs.RO) #Systems and Control (eess.SY) #Teleoperation and Haptic Systems #electronic engineering #information engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2411.12970
openalex publication_date 2024/11/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Navigating rugged terrain and steep slopes is a challenge for mobile robots. Conventional legged and wheeled systems struggle with these environments due to limited traction and stability. Northeastern University's COBRA (Crater Observing Bio-inspired Rolling Articulator), a novel multi-modal snake-like robot, addresses these issues by combining traditional snake gaits for locomotion on flat and inclined surfaces with a tumbling mode for controlled descent on steep slopes. Through dynamic posture manipulation, COBRA can modulate its heading angle and velocity during tumbling. This paper presents a reduced-order cascade model for COBRA's tumbling locomotion and validates it against a high-fidelity rigid-body simulation, presenting simulation results that show that the model captures key system dynamics.