TY - GEN
T1 - Scalybot
T2 - ASME 2011 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference and Bath/ASME Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control, DSCC 2011
AU - Marvi, Hamidreza
AU - Meyers, Gregory
AU - Russell, Geoffrey
AU - Hu, David L.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Snakes are one of the world's most versatile locomotors, at ease slithering through rubble or ratcheting up vertical tree trunks. Their adaptations for movement across complex dry terrain thus serve naturally as inspirations for search-and-rescue robotics. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we perform experiments on inclined surfaces to show a snake's scales are critical anatomical features that enable climbing. We find corn snakes actively change their scale angle of attack by contracting their ventral muscles and lifting their bodies. We use this novel paradigm to design Scalybot, a two-link limbless robot with individually controlled sets of belly scales. The robot ascends styrofoam plates inclined up to 45°, demonstrating a climbing ability comparable to that of a corn snake in the same conditions. The robot uses individual servos to provide a spatial and temporal dependence of its belly friction, effectively anchoring the stationary part of its body while reducing frictional drag of its sliding section. The ability to actively modulate friction increases both the robot's efficiency over horizontal surfaces and the limiting angles of inclination it can ascend.
AB - Snakes are one of the world's most versatile locomotors, at ease slithering through rubble or ratcheting up vertical tree trunks. Their adaptations for movement across complex dry terrain thus serve naturally as inspirations for search-and-rescue robotics. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we perform experiments on inclined surfaces to show a snake's scales are critical anatomical features that enable climbing. We find corn snakes actively change their scale angle of attack by contracting their ventral muscles and lifting their bodies. We use this novel paradigm to design Scalybot, a two-link limbless robot with individually controlled sets of belly scales. The robot ascends styrofoam plates inclined up to 45°, demonstrating a climbing ability comparable to that of a corn snake in the same conditions. The robot uses individual servos to provide a spatial and temporal dependence of its belly friction, effectively anchoring the stationary part of its body while reducing frictional drag of its sliding section. The ability to actively modulate friction increases both the robot's efficiency over horizontal surfaces and the limiting angles of inclination it can ascend.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867473279&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84867473279&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/DSCC2011-6174
DO - 10.1115/DSCC2011-6174
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84867473279
SN - 9780791854761
T3 - ASME 2011 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference and Bath/ASME Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control, DSCC 2011
SP - 443
EP - 450
BT - ASME 2011 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference and Bath/ASME Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control, DSCC 2011
Y2 - 31 October 2011 through 2 November 2011
ER -