Snake-like robots can enable workers to avoid difficult-to-reach, dangerous, and hazardous environments while enhancing their capabilities. This project involved a collaboration with an industry partner, FLX Solutions, Inc., to develop algorithms for motion and configuration planning for a snake-like robot called FLX BOT. The goal of the project was to enable the robot to enter and navigate autonomously inside difficult-to-reach spaces such as interior cavities of walls and perform load-intensive maintenance operations such as drilling.
This research was led by Prof. Subhrajit Bhattacharya in partnership with Lehigh Mechanical Engineering alum, Dr. Matthew Bilsky, founder and CEO of FLX Solutions, with support from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance (PITA) program.
Read more about Prof. Bhattacharya’s work on configuration planning and motion control for a snake-like robot in the journal Autonomous Robots.