The Geometric Mechanics of Undulatory Robotic Locomotion

This paper uses geometric methods to study basic problems in the mechanics and control of locomotion. We consider in detail the case of \undulatory locomotion," in which net motion is generated by coupling internal shape changes with external nonholonomic constraints. Such locomotion problems have a natural geometric interpretation as a connection on a principal ber bundle. The properties of connections lead to simpliied results for studying both dynamics and issues of controllability for locomotion systems. We demonstrate the utility of this approach using a novel \Snakeboard" and a multi-segmented serpentine robot which is modeled after Hirose's Active Cord Mechanism.