Hardware plans and software.
Why a Snake Robot? For hunting rats! Here in New Zealand we have rats etc, alien to these previously isolated islands, harming our much loved native bird populations including the national icon - the Kiwi. Think of a remote controlled small robot in the world of the rat and that world has mud, undergrowth and broken terrain where a snake form factor is worth trying. And we can get "bio-inspired" and realise that snakes are effective bio rat-hunters so it may be good to learn from them. This is an ambitious aim to build towards step by step with an indoor testbed first. If rat-hunting does not work out then there are plenty of other possibilities like robot circus performer and Youtube stardom. If cats can be stars on Youtube then maybe snake robots can be the next big thing!
When I started this I thought snake robots were a regular thing in robotics and I would be adding value for rat hunting. As far as I can tell there is a lot of snake talk and not so much snake action. As in only a small number exist as one-off academic projects. This places this project more on the "cutting edge" than I expected which is a little scary-snake but also exciting that this can be something special.
New in October 2018 is:
- Gait interpreter does interpolation between defined gait points for a smoother movement
New in June 2018 are:
- advances in "brain" coding with an improved basic movement "Gait" and simplified Gait coding
- power supply improvements
Ref under folder "CodeSpinalCordArduino" for the code and signal specs for the 3 x microcontrollers of the "spinal cord". Ref under folder "CodeBrainAndroidJavaScriptDroidScript" for the code for the smartphone or smartwatch acting as the "brain".
Video "Snake Robot Goes Faster - Sideways!":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjVp4ZTarv0
Video "Evolution of a Snake Robot":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kkDN4BqMLU
Other videos at:
https://www.youtube.com/iafilm
More details on problem solving at blog "HiTechFromLoTech":
https://hitechfromlotech.blogspot.co.nz/2017/12/xmsnakerobot-construction-completed.html.
L to R ribs 03, 04, 05. Rib04 has the highest complexity because it includes the master Arduino Nano microcontroller.
Snake Robot structure with version01 electronics in place.
Part of the "Creative Repurposing of Accessible Technologies" Project at the Manukau Institute of Technology in New Zealand.
Here the Accessible Technologies are:
- Low cost Android SmartPhone or Android SmartWatch for the robot "brain"
- Arduino Nano microcontrollers for the robot "spinal cord"
- Bluetooth HC-05 module as the link between "spinal cord" and "brain"
- MG90 model aircraft servos - 20 of them. The snake has 10 segments each of which has servos for horizontal and vertical movement.