Sidewinding with minimal slip: Snake and robot ascent of sandy slopes

Abstract

Limbless organisms such as snakes can navigate nearly all terrain. In particular, desert-dwelling sidewinder rattlesnakes (Crotalus cerastes) operate effectively on inclined granular media (such as sand dunes) that induce failure in field-tested limbless robots through slipping and pitching. Our laboratory experiments reveal that as granular incline angle increases, sidewinder rattlesnakes increase the length of their body in contact with the sand. Implementing this strategy in a physical robot model of the snake enables the device to ascend sandy slopes close to the angle of maximum slope stability. Plate drag experiments demonstrate that granular yield stresses decrease with increasing incline angle. Together, these three approaches demonstrate how sidewinding with contact-length control mitigates failure on granular media.

References in corpus (1)

• Unified force law for granular impact cratering

Cited by in corpus (21)

• Effects of inertia on conformation and dynamics of tangentially-driven active filaments
• A general locomotion control framework for multi-legged locomotors
• Compliant Fins for Locomotion in Granular Media
• The need for and feasibility of alternative ground robots to traverse sandy and rocky extraterrestrial terrain
• Locomotor transitions in the potential energy landscape-dominated regime
• Snakes combine vertical and lateral bending to traverse uneven terrain
• Density and inertia effects on two-dimensional active semiflexible filament suspensions
• Active Polymer Behavior in Two Dimensions: A Comparative Analysis of Tangential and Push-Pull Models
• Schrodinger dynamics and Berry phase of undulatory locomotion
• Continuous body 3-D reconstruction of limbless animals
• A smart granular intruder
• Friction modulation in limbless, three-dimensional gaits and heterogeneous terrains
• Controlled Locomotion of a Minimal Soft Structure by Stick-Slip Nonlinearity
• Lateral contact yields longitudinal cohesion in active undulatory systems
• Contact feedback helps snake robots propel against uneven terrain using vertical bending
• Preserved reptile scales retain microscopic features, revealing a new instance of convergent evolution
• Efficient sliding locomotion of three-link bodies with inertia
• The Effect of Internal Damping on Locomotion in Frictional Environments
• Crater Observing Bio-inspired Rolling Articulator (COBRA)
• Pacific Lamprey Inspired Climbing
• A bio-inspired sand-rolling robot: effect of body shape on sand rolling performance