DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROL OF SNAKE ROBOT

Abstract

The rapid advancement in robotics, highlighting the significance of hyper redundant robots, paves the way for versatile and efficient systems capable of navigating through a multitude of environments. Snake robots, characterized by their extensive range of motion and adaptability, set the stage for our exploration into the realm of snake robots. Snake robots, with their unique serpentine design and locomotion abilities, are emerging as pivotal tools in this technological evolution. They are especially adept at maneuvering through confined spaces, tackling rough terrains, and adapting to diverse conditions, making them ideal for applications such as industrial inspections and search and rescue missions. Driven by this motivation, our thesis delves deeply into optimizing their dynamic behaviors and extending their functional capabilities. In the intricate landscape of snake robotics, this thesis embarks on a journey to decode and optimize their dynamic behaviors, leveraging the sophisticated flexible bond graph formalism. Central to our investigations is the introduction of a robust controller grounded in the fuzzy type 2 Takagi-Sugeno model, specifically engineered to harness and guide the snake robot’s natural lateral undulation gait. Progressing into the burgeoning domain of soft robotics, the research unveils a novel pneumatic actuator design, underpinned by a two-way air pump mechanism. This innovative approach heralds the development of an untethered soft snake robot, marking a potential paradigm shift in robotic exploration capabilities. Recognizing the challenges that soft actuators present, especially the detrimental leakage-related faults, thesis culminates with a meticulous analysis complemented with pragmatic reconfiguration strategies articulated to ensure the robot’s resilience and consistent performance. To cement the reliability and robustness of the methodologies and designs presented, the efficacy of the work undertaken has been validated through rigorous simulation and experimental results. This validation reinforces the thesis’s contributions and paves the way for future advancements in the field.