Design, Construction and Dynamic Modeling of a Snake Robot

In this paper, dynamic equation of n-link snake robot is derived using Lagrange's method for two friction model: simple viscous and coulomb. A simplified form for the final dynamic equation in matrix format is presented.In order to verify the derived dynamic equation, snake robot model prepared in SimMechanics toolbox of MATLAB package is used. Results obtained by the derived dynamic equation closely agree with those of SimMechaics. In order to experimentally evaluate the results, a 5-link snake an undulatory robotic prototype has been developed using off-the-shelf components and conventional fabrication techniques. Experimental verification of the derived dynamic equation has also be perfomed.