Design and architecture of the unified modular snake robot

Wright, Cornell; Buchan, Austin; Brown, Bryan L.; Geist, Jason; Schwerin, Michael J.; Rollinson, David; Tesch, Matthew; Choset, Howie

doi:10.1109/icra.2012.6225255

Cited by 196 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…• locomotion on flat or slightly rough surfaces, such as the ACM III snake robot [10], which was the world's first snake robot, or the toroidal skin drive (TSD) snake robot [11], which is equipped with a skin drive propulsion system; • climbing slopes, pipes, or trees, such as the Creeping snake Robot [12], which is capable of obtaining an environmentally-adaptable body shape to climb slopes, or the PIKo snake robot [13], which is equipped with a mechanism for navigating complex pipe structures, or the Uncle Sam snake robot [14], which is provided with a strong and compact joint mechanism for climbing trees; • locomoting in the presence of obstacles, such as the Aiko snake robot [3], which is capable of pushing against external obstacles apart from a flat ground, or the Kulko snake robot [15], which is provided with a contact force measurement system for obstacle-aided locomotion. To better assess the different working environments in which these robotic systems operate, we may consider various metrics.…”

Section: Classification Of Snake Robots As Unmanned Vehicle Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception-Driven Obstacle-Aided Locomotion for Snake Robots: The State of the Art, Challenges and Possibilities †

et al. 2017

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In nature, snakes can gracefully traverse a wide range of different and complex environments. Snake robots that can mimic this behaviour could be fitted with sensors and transport tools to hazardous or confined areas that other robots and humans are unable to access. In order to carry out such tasks, snake robots must have a high degree of awareness of their surroundings (i.e., perception-driven locomotion) and be capable of efficient obstacle exploitation (i.e., obstacle-aided locomotion) to gain propulsion. These aspects are pivotal in order to realise the large variety of possible snake robot applications in real-life operations such as fire-fighting, industrial inspection, search-and-rescue, and more. In this paper, we survey and discuss the state of the art, challenges, and possibilities of perception-driven obstacle-aided locomotion for snake robots. To this end, different levels of autonomy are identified for snake robots and categorised into environmental complexity, mission complexity, and external system independence. From this perspective, we present a step-wise approach on how to increment snake robot abilities within guidance, navigation, and control in order to target the different levels of autonomy. Pertinent to snake robots, we focus on current strategies for snake robot locomotion in the presence of obstacles. Moreover, we put obstacle-aided locomotion into the context of perception and mapping. Finally, we present an overview of relevant key technologies and methods within environment perception, mapping, and representation that constitute important aspects of perception-driven obstacle-aided locomotion.

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Section: Classification Of Snake Robots As Unmanned Vehicle Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception-Driven Obstacle-Aided Locomotion for Snake Robots: The State of the Art, Challenges and Possibilities †

et al. 2017

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“…With the exception of the Active Scope Mechanism [2], to the date, there is a lack of deployments of such technology in real missions due to either (i) the level of readiness of the snake robot platforms [3]- [5], their cost and complexity [6], [7], or simply because they do not comply with regulations needed to operate in certain environments [1]. We consider that there is still a more relevant factor that delays the introduction of these robots as real assets for SAR missions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where to place cameras on a snake robot: Focus on camera trajectory and motion blur

Mutlu

Melo

Vespignani

et al. 2015

2015 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR)

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Abstract-Visual information is heavily used in robotics, in particular for SLAM applications. Visual SLAM algorithms depend on robust feature extraction and reliable state estimation. Quality of the visual information highly depends on how that information is captured. The nature of snake robots' locomotion presents considerable challenges on the quality of images captured by an onboard mobile camera. Although placing the camera on the "head" of the snake robot has advantages when the robot is stationary since the body can be used as a manipulator observing for the environment, how to place the camera in order to capture more useful images for navigation during locomotion is not clear. In this paper, we present a comparative study to discuss implications of the camera location on field coverage and types of image quality for three snake gaits: Rolling, sidewinding and linear progression. Camera pose during locomotion is examined in detail and quality of images are quantified using a motion blur metric which relates camera egomotion to blur. Linear progression is found to be very promising in terms of supplying sharper images. But, there are also other merits that can be exploited in different locomotion types and camera locations.

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“…Recently, a snake-like robot (seen in the figure 2e) developed by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), is composed of 16 modules, and its size is 37 inches long and 2 inches wide [13]. Currently, it was tested in an Austria nuclear power station.…”

Section: Mir In Usamentioning

confidence: 99%

Application and Standardization Trend of Maintenance and Inspection Robot (MIR) in Nuclear Power Station

Zhao¹,

Ma²,

Sun³

2017

dtetr

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Design and architecture of the unified modular snake robot

Cited by 196 publications

References 12 publications

Perception-Driven Obstacle-Aided Locomotion for Snake Robots: The State of the Art, Challenges and Possibilities †

Perception-Driven Obstacle-Aided Locomotion for Snake Robots: The State of the Art, Challenges and Possibilities †

Where to place cameras on a snake robot: Focus on camera trajectory and motion blur

Application and Standardization Trend of Maintenance and Inspection Robot (MIR) in Nuclear Power Station

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