Development of an experimental system for a snake-like gliding model

A snake, which has a simple shape without limbs, can move over rough terrain, climb a wall or tree, swim, and glide through the air. It is difficult to understand the gliding flight of a snake in aerodynamics assuming a static model, because a snake undulates its body trunk and turns in air. This paper presents an experimental system for investigation of the relationship between the shape of the gliding snake model and gliding characteristics. Results of a gliding experiment confirm a sufficiently high reproducibility of the experiment.