Inspired by the morphology characteristics and the locomotion mechanisms of the earthworm,and the snakes'morphology characteristics and motivated by the demands for multi-modal locomotion robots in variable working environments,this paper presents a novel bi-modal robot named as Snake-Worm Locomotion Robot(SWL-Robot).Two fundamentally different locomotion mechanisms,the earthworm's peristaltic rectilinear locomotion and the snake's lateral undulation,are synthe-sized in the SWL-Robot design.In detail,the SWL-Robot consists of six earthworm-like body segments interconnected by rotational joints and a head segment equipped with a couple of independently driven wheels.By actuating the segments following a peristaltic wave-like gait,the robot as a whole could perform earthworm-like rectilinear crawling.The robot could also perform snake-like undulatory locomotion driven by differential motions of the wheels at the head segment.To understand the relationship between the design parameters and the robotic locomotion performance,kinematic models of the SWL-Robot corresponding to the two locomotion modes are developed.Rich locomotion behaviors of the SWL-Robot are achieved,including the peristaltic locomotion inside a tube,multiple planar motions on a flat surface,and a hybrid motion that switches between the tube and the flat surface.It shows that the measured trajectories of the SWL-Robot agree well with the theoretical predictions.The SWL-Robot is promising to be implemented in tasks where both tubular and flat environments may be encountered.

Zhouwei Du;Hongbin Fang;Jian Xu

School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics,Tongji University,Shanghai 200092,China;Institute of AI and Robotics,Fudan University,Shanghai 200433,China;Engineering Research Center of AI and Robotics,Ministry of Education,Fudan University,Shanghai 20043,China;Shanghai Engineering Research Center of AI and Robotics,Fudan University,Shanghai 200433,China

仿生工程学报（英文版）

[1]Zhouwei Du;Hongbin Fang;Jian Xu-.Snake-worm:A Bi-modal Locomotion Robot)[J].仿生工程学报（英文版）,2022(05):1272-1287

earthworm,rectilinear,undulatory

Snake,Bi,modal,Locomotion,Robot,Inspired,by,morphology,characteristics,locomotion,mechanisms,snakes,motivated,demands,robots,variable,working,environments,this,paper,presents,novel,bi,named,Worm,SWL,Two,fundamentally,peristaltic,lateral,undulation,are,synthe,sized,design,detail,consists,six,like,body,segments,interconnected,rotational,joints,head,equipped,couple,independently,driven,wheels,By,actuating,following,wave,gait,whole,could,crawling,also,differential,motions,To,understand,relationship,between,parameters,robotic,performance,kinematic,models,corresponding,two,modes,developed,Rich,behaviors,achieved,including,inside,tube,multiple,planar,flat,surface,hybrid,that,switches,It,shows,measured,trajectories,agree,well,theoretical,predictions,promising,implemented,tasks,where,both,tubular,may,encountered

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