Motion planning for anguilliform locomotion

TLDR

Previous work has shown that solving motion planning can be achieved by decoupling it into trajectory generation and feedback regulation. The study investigates control and motion planning for a biomimetic eel‑like swimming robot, focusing on momentum generation, theoretical justification of observed forward and turning gaits, and predictions of novel turning and sideways gaits. The authors provide theoretical justification for a natural forward gait and a turning gait used in control laws, and predict novel turning and sideways gaits for eel‑like swimming robots. Experimental results demonstrate good agreement between theory and both open‑ and closed‑loop control of a modular five‑link underwater eel‑like robot using image‑based position sensing.

Abstract

We investigate issues of control and motion planning for a biomimetic robotic system. Previous work has shown that a successful approach to solving the motion planning problem is to decouple it into the two subproblems of trajectory generation (feedforward controls) and feedback regulation. In this paper, we investigate basic issues of momentum generation for a class of dynamic mobile robots, focusing on eel-like swimming robots. We develop theoretical justification for a forward gait that has been observed in nature, and for a turning gait, used in our control laws, that has not been extensively studied in the biological literature. We also explore theoretical predictions for novel gaits for turning and sideways swimming. Finally, we present results from experiments in motion planning for a biomimetic robotic system. We show good agreement with theory for both open and closed-loop control of our modular, five-link, underwater swimming robot using image-based position sensing in an aquatic environment.