Design and Experimental Validation of a Multimodal Snake Robot with Elliptical Wheels

Snake robots are characterized by their flexibility and environmental adaptability, achieved through various optimized gaits. However, their forward propulsion still requires improvement. This challenge can be addressed by integrating wheels or legs, but these mechanisms often limit the ability of snake robots to perform most optimized gaits. In this article, we develop a novel multimodal snake robot, JiAo-II, with both body-based locomotion and wheeled locomotion to handle complex terrains. The mechanical design and implementation of JiAo-II are presented in detail, with particular emphasis on its innovative elliptical wheels and gear transmission mechanism. Experimental results validate the effectiveness and multifunctionality of JiAo-II across various scenarios, including traversing grasslands, crossing gaps, ascending slopes, navigating pipelines, and climbing cylindrical surfaces. Furthermore, a series of experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the wheel-body coordinated locomotion on uneven ground, demonstrating the robustness even without requiring external sensing or sophisticated control strategies. In summary, the proposed multimodal mechanism significantly enhances the locomotion speed, terrain adaptability and robustness of snake robots.