Proposal and Simulation Analysis of a Centipede Type Robot Dynamically Adjusting Body Stiffness to Harness Favorable Environmental Effects for Navigation in Unknown 3D Environments

In navigating robots through intricate three- dimensional (3D) unknown terrains, traditional methods often require complex control and sensing systems to perceive and counteract the environment, treating them largely as “obstacles”. Contrasting these conventional approaches, our study posits a novel perspective, viewing the environment as an “assistant”. Building on this notion, we introduce a centipede-inspired robot with implicit control. Crucially, this robot dynamically adjusts its body stiffness, maximizing the beneficial influences of the environment for navigation. Using this distinctive strategy as our foundation, we carried out simulation experiments in the CoppeliaSim environment. Preliminary findings underscore that, by leveraging the stiffness adjustments, the proposed method achieves efficient navigation with simple controls, eliminating the need for intricate obstacle detection or path planning.