Design of Al-Driven Modular Snake Robot with Active Skin Enhanced Mobility

Conventional robots, such as wheeled or legged designs, offer numerous advantages for specific tasks. However, their rigid structures, limited flexibility, and difficulty in navigating tight spaces or varied terrain present major drawbacks in environments where high adaptability is required. In contrast, snake-shaped robots are inherently more flexible and maneuverable, making them better suited for complex and variable environments where traditional robots face limitations, such as search and rescue, industrial inspection, and exploration of unknown terrain. We developed a modular snake robot featuring a novel active-skin drive system designed to achieve greater flexibility and support complex locomotion. To enable multiple degrees of freedom, a mecanum-inspired active-skin mechanism was implemented, giving each segment omnidirectional movement capabilities. A modular wireless control system, integrated with visual feedback and AI capability, was developed to enhance the robot’s adaptability in dynamic environments and facilitate autonomous operation. The robot demonstrated its capabilities in a range of specialized tasks, including obstacle capture and removal, gap traversal, and ramp climbing, achieving speeds of up to 10 cm/s across various surfaces. Two AI models, one using YOLO object detection and the other employing multimodal AI-based image analysis were evaluated, highlighting their respective strengths and limitations. Future investigation of the active skin locomotion system and AI control methods may allow a more efficient, responsive, and versatile robot.