Modeling and Simulation of Inchworm Mode Locomotion

Worms are good examples of animals that developed remarkable functional locomotion system. In this paper, inchworm mode locomotion inspired of real worm's motion is modeled and simulated. For this purpose, the mechanism of motion is divided into four sub-mechanisms that two by two are symmetric. Then each main sub-mechanism is modeled as a manipulator and its kinematics relations were derived. Next, as results of programmed MATLAB code, snapshots of gait sequences are shown. Last, to confirm that presented gait would achieve a forward motion, the inchworm robot was modeled in engineering software.