Fortschritte in Robotik und Automatisierung

Developing Serpentine Robot Control to use Lateral Affordances

Abstract

William R Hutchison

This paper describes the unique challenges in developing control of complex lateral movements needed by a serpentine robot to ascend steep slopes by climbing over and around affordances/obstacles on the slope. The research extends previous serpentine robot work developing control of sagittal movements for climbing up stairs and over uneven parallel bars. Effective lateral control was developed using an iterative combination of learning, a genetic algorithm, and developer programming. The robot's many simultaneous movements were controlled mostly as a function of very local sensory inputs and little centralized coordination.