CPG-based control of serpentine locomotion of a snake-like robot

In this paper, a biomimetic approach is proposed to solve the difficulty in control of a snake-like robot with a large number of degrees of freedom. This method is based on the central pattern generator (CPG), which is a rhythmical motion generator existing in most animals. Compared with the previous research, a new network with feedback connection is presented, which can generate uniform outputs without any adjustment. Furthermore, the relation characteristics between the CPG parameters and the outputs are investigated. Both simulation and experiment of the snake-like robot have been taken for the analysis of the locomotion control. Desired locomotion patterns can be achieved by adjusting the CPG parameters correspondingly from the results.