Future Research Challenges of Snake Robot Locomotion

Abstract

We end this book with a discussion which points out important research challenges that must be addressed before we will ever see useful snake robots outside the laboratory. This book has presented experimental results that demonstrate planar snake robot locomotion in cluttered environments based on environment sensing and body shape adaptation. However, to our best knowledge, the fact still remains that non-planar (3D) locomotion in cluttered environments based on environment sensing and body shape adaptation has not yet been demonstrated. Our primary claim is therefore that future applications of snake robots require significantly more research on adaptive behaviour during motion in unknown and cluttered environments.