Snakeboard Motion Planning with Local Trajectory Information

Abstract

We address trajectory generation for the snakeboard, a system commonly studied in the geometric mechanics community. Our approach derives a solution using body coordinates and local trajectory information, leading to a more intuitive solution compared to prior work. The simple forms of the solution clearly show how they depend on local curvature and desired velocity profile, allowing for a description of some simple motion primitives. We readily propose techniques to navigate paths, including those with sharp corners, by taking advantage of the snake-board’s singular configuration, as well as discuss some implications of torque limits.