Learning, locomotion, and navigation of soft synthetic snakes in three-dimensional, heterogeneous environments
Limbless terrestrial animals exhibit exceptional locomotor versatility and control, currently unmatched by engineered counterparts. Here, we introduce a computational framework that enables soft synthetic snakes to navigate unstructured, heterogeneous 3D terrains. Our approach is grounded in bio-inspired actuation and sensing models that reduce the control complexity inherent to high-degree-of-freedom, continuum bodies. These models are integrated into a reinforcement learning architecture to derive environment-traversing policies. Training first occurs in simplified, homogeneous terrains to learn locomotion primitives. These are then composed into adaptive strategies for complex landscap...
| Authors | Xiaotian Zhang, Ali Albazroun, Tixian Wang et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.RO |
| Published | 24 May 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 24 May 2026 |
Silytics shows public metadata from arXiv and links to the original. Information may be incomplete or out of date. Last refreshed 17 October 2026. Licenses and terms of the original apply to the work itself. Not financial, legal or professional advice.