Robot Overview

Here is a picture of the robot I’m making. It breaks down this way…


This is a vertebrae. The red part is a rapid prototyped part that forms the backbone of the robot. The two yellow parts are two hobby-type servos. The green parts are balljoints that allow flexibility in the system.



This is a close-up of vertebrae. An aluminum shaft runs through the middle of the vertebrae, and each vertebra is connected via a ¼” universal joint. A flange, not depicted in the first picture, extends from the vertebrae. This flange is where the balljoints are extended and connected via a smaller universal joint.

The force sensors I use are the Tekscan Flexiforce sensors. They are glued directly to the bottom of the vertebrae. A polymer bung is glued to the activation site to allow the transmission of contact force to be directed through the sensors.



This is an overall view of the snake robot from below and from the flank. The pink squares at the bottom of the snake are the bungs attached to the force sensors.



This picture is from the front/top diagonal. The snake is covered with a cloth and several light reflecting balls are attached. The cloth and reflectors are for motion tracking purposes with digitized cameras.