Macro Snake Projects | Sensor Based Planning

Snake Robot Design

Angular Swivel Joint Design:

The second design that evolved was the angular swivel joint, which is present in the JPL Snake Robot. These are much more compact two DOF joints. The design is simple: starting with a sphere, then slicing the sphere into two parts such that the slice plane is transversal to the south-north pole axis of the sphere. Now rotate one half sphere with respect to the other and notice the motion of the north pole as it traverses a cone of revolution. Connecting two adjacent snake bays via a passive universal joint and then by coordinating the rotation of the two spherical cups generated two degrees of freedom: In-plane bending and orientation.

This is the most compact joint design till now. However here we are trying to develop a new compact two DOF joints.