Design and simulation of reconfigurable modular snake robots with bevel gear transmission

With the advancement of technologies, robotics is playing an increasingly important role in various fields. The snake robot has attracted widespread academic attention due to its efficient and flexible movement characteristics. Nevertheless, its popularity and application range are constrained by complex control, low durability, and high cost. Given this, this study proposed a modular design framework based on the concept of modular design and a reconfigurable modular snake robot using bevel gear transmission. The snake robot consists of several basic module units with the same structure, which are restructured and reconfigured to achieve different shapes and functions. A standardized interface and communication protocol were optimized and designed, with each module containing an autonomous control unit and several execution units. The robot realized motion and tasks through the collaborative work of multiple modules to adapt to various work and environmental requirements. In addition, the research analyzes distributed control, improved motion control (using PID algorithm), energy management, safety design and other aspects, based on the cost data, improvement measures were proposed. At the same time, the work risks of the robot are analyzed, such as mechanical damage to the human body, adverse environment and electromagnetic interference, and corresponding solutions are proposed, and problems are found through durability testing and material improvement measures are proposed. Finally, based on SolidWorks software, a three-dimensional modeling and simulation analysis was conducted on the robot to verify its correctness. This study can provide inspiration for the design and research of snake robots. Copyright © 2024 by author(s).