A snake robot joint mechanism with a contact force measurement system

A snake robot can traverse cluttered and irregular environments by using irregularities around its body as push-points to aid the propulsion. This is denoted obstacle-aided locomotion and requires the snake robot to have two features: 1) a smooth exterior surface combined with 2) a contact force sensing system. These two features are characteristic of biological snakes, but have received limited attention in snake robot designs so far. This paper presents a joint mechanism for a snake robot aimed at meeting both these requirements. The paper details the design and implementation of the joint mechanism and presents experimental results that validate the function of the contact force measurement system.