A clifford algebra-based algorithm for 3D snake robot kinematics

We present an application of Clifford algebra in the description of the kinematics of nonholonomic mechanisms. In particular, the nonholonomic condition for snake robots is reinterpreted using the conformal geometric algebra (CGA). A dimension-independent algorithm approximating the kinematics of the mechanism is obtained by means of CGA. Using piecewise-constant input, an inverse kinematics algorithm is developed and utilised in a control scheme in three dimensions. The implementation of the algorithm in Python, using the Clifford library, is provided.