2021/12/15 by Divya Ramesh, Ramesh, Divya, Qiyuan Fu +3 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Robotics (cs.RO) #Soft Robotics and Applications
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2112.09078
openalex publication_date 2021/12/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Despite advances in a diversity of environments, snake robots are still far behind snakes in traversing complex 3-D terrain with large obstacles. This is due to a lack of understanding of how to control 3-D body bending to push against terrain features to generate and control propulsion. Biological studies suggested that generalist snakes use contact force sensing to adjust body bending in real time to do so. However, studying this sensory-modulated force control in snakes is challenging, due to a lack of basic knowledge of how their force sensing organs work. Here, we take a robophysics approach to make progress, starting by developing a snake robot capable of 3-D body bending with contact force sensing to enable systematic locomotion experiments and force measurements. Through two development and testing iterations, we created a 12-segment robot with 36 piezo-resistive sheet sensors distributed on all segments with compliant shells with a sampling frequency of 30 Hz. The robot measured contact forces while traversing a large obstacle using vertical bending with high repeatability, achieving the goal of providing a platform for systematic experiments. Finally, we explored model-based calibration considering the viscoelastic behavior of the piezo-resistive sensor, which will for useful for future studies.