Rapid GAIT adoption for snake-like locomotion (RGASL)

Snake-like robots are low centre of gravity because they are limbless, they also have slender bodies composed of multiple actuating segments. Because of these features, snake robots are widely considered to be most adaptable among all land-based mobile robots. The multi-segmented body that provides their defining characteristic, adaptivity, also brings about the quandary of controlling many actuating segments simultaneously to create directd locomotion. Various methods for snake robot locomotion have been proposed for relatively smooth and flat surfaces. Currently there is no snake robot designed or locomotion method capable of resolving the directed mobility problem in situations where the snake robot is stuck at an impasse, or when it encounters disjointed terrains. There is no method to rapidly create new locomotion that addresses the problem or extensive time delay. This thesis makes the contribution of a modular snake robot called Striker and an elegant solution to create new snake-like robot locomotion on-the-fly, called the Explicit Gait Training (EGT) method. The EGT method allows trainer(s) to rapidly train new kinds of locomotion to address any situation at hand using their knowledge, experiences or even trial and error. The third contribution is the Standard Mobility for Snake Robots (SMMSR) is proposed as a standard platform to evaluate the evvectiveness of snake robot locomotion.