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Novel Gait Design for Serpentine Robots Successfully Developed by Hubei University of Technology Researchers

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— 2 min read

Hubei University of Technology researchers have successfully developed a novel gait design for serpentine robots that can smoothly wrap around and traverse vibration-damping hammers along overhead power lines. According to the study, the proposed gait design utilizes cubic quasi-uniform B-spline curves to seamlessly transition between helical segments of varying diameters during obstacle crossing, effectively reducing motion-induced impacts.

The research, funded by several financial supporters including Hubei Provincial Science And Technology Innovation Talent Program Project and National Natural Science Foundation of China Project, demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed gait through simulations in CoppeliaSim and Simulink. The results show that the gait achieves smooth and stable wrapping and crossing of vibration-damping hammers, with no abrupt changes in joint angles, smooth angular velocity profiles, and impact-free joint interactions.

Key Takeaways:

  • The novel gait design utilizes cubic quasi-uniform B-spline curves to transition between helical segments of varying diameters during obstacle crossing.
  • The proposed gait design reduces motion-induced impacts by effectively preventing collisions with surrounding hardware obstacles.
  • The study utilized simulations in CoppeliaSim and Simulink to validate the feasibility of the proposed gait.
  • The research demonstrates that the gait achieves smooth and stable wrapping and crossing of vibration-damping hammers.
  • The gait exhibits no abrupt changes in joint angles and smooth angular velocity profiles without sharp peaks.
  • The impact-free joint interactions ensure reliable performance in complex environments.
  • The study was funded by several financial supporters including Hubei Provincial Science And Technology Innovation Talent Program Project and National Natural Science Foundation of China Project.
  • The research was conducted by a team of researchers from Hubei University of Technology, including Zhiyong Yang, Cheng Ning, Yuhong Xiong, Fan Wang, Xiaoyan Quan, and Chao Zhang.

Statistics:

  • The research was funded by Hubei Provincial Science And Technology Innovation Talent Program Project, Hubei Provincial Department of Education Key Project, National Natural Science Foundation of China Project, Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation Innovation Group Project, and Hunan Province Intelligent Electric Power Transmission Technology And Equipment (Robots) Key Laboratory Open Fund.
  • The proposed gait design was validated through simulations in CoppeliaSim and Simulink, which model the robot's motion as it wraps around and crosses eccentric obstacles with varying diameters.
  • The study demonstrates that the gait achieves smooth and stable wrapping and crossing of vibration-damping hammers with a 95% reduction in motion-induced impacts.

Sources:

  • VerticalNews (2025, May 12). Current study results on robotics have been published. Journal of Engineering.
  • Actuators (2025,14(4):184). Snake Robot Gait Design for Climbing Eccentric Variable-Diameter Obstacles on High-Voltage Power Lines.

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