Amphibious Path Planning
How can a salamander-like robot plan and follow paths across water and land while respecting the constraints of undulatory, body-driven locomotion?
Ongoing
This project is ongoing. If it interests you, please feel free to reach out in case you would like to know more, discuss it, or explore ways to extend it.
Overview
This project studies path planning and guidance for amphibious, salamander-like robots that move using body undulations and limb coordination. Unlike wheeled or point-mass robots, these systems cannot instantaneously turn or follow arbitrary geometric paths; their motion is constrained by body dynamics, gait structure, terrain, and the interaction between the controller and the environment.
The broader question is how high-level navigation goals can be translated into physically feasible low-level locomotion strategies. In amphibious settings, the robot must reason across water and land, handle changes in medium and terrain, and follow paths while preserving stable and efficient locomotor behavior.
Methods and Tools
The work combines high-level path planning, waypoint and heading-based guidance, bio-inspired locomotion control, and physics-based simulation of salamander-like robots. The project explores planning and control strategies such as tree-based search, Dubins-style paths, guiding vector fields, and heading regulation, while studying how these methods interact with the constraints of undulatory locomotion and amphibious movement.