instructables
Snake Robot
by joesinstructables
Introducing The Lake Erie Mamba: a
Reconfigurable Robot Snake
This versatile reptile is made with off-the-shelf parts
and is capable of several different modes of
locomotion, including slithering, inch worm,
sidewinding and rolling. (The rolling configuration
involves the snake curling itself into a vertical loop
and rolling like a wheel. See the last section in the
video above.) The snake contains 12 segments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YH25vspiJo
Snake Robot: Page 1
actuated by servo motors and joined with metal
brackets. The servos are controlled by an Arduino
Mega and powered by a 7.4 volt battery pack. A four
button keyfob transmitter provides remote control for
the snake. The snake is also capable of autonomous
movement. Such a robot can be constructed with
many different types of servos and brackets. If you
decide to give one a try, I hope you find the code
given below to be useful.
Step 1: List of Materials

1 Arduino Mega (with optional sensor shield)

1 Four Button Remote Control Keyfob and corresponding Momentary M4 Receiver
12 servos
12 servo C-brackets
12 servo side brackets
4 long servo C-brackets
1 Lithium Ion Battery
12 Lego wheels
1 continuous rotation servo
1 IR distance sensor and mount
1 micro servo and mount
Several sensor cables and connectors
1 large wheel
1 5AA battery holder with barrel plug
Various nuts, bolts, wire clips, and velcro straps

Snake Robot: Page 2

Step 2: Construction
The Lake Erie Mamba is capable of several
configurations depending on the type of movement
desired. This step will detail construction of the form
capable of serpentine motion (slithering). The other
configurations will be described in separate steps
below.
Each of the 12 segments consists of a servo motor, a
C-bracket, a side bracket, a wire clip and a set of
Lego wheels. Two screw holes need to be drilled into
the Lego wheel axle to allow it to be connected to the
C-bracket. I also had to drill two screw holes into the
wire clip to attach it to the C-bracket. See the photos
above. After all 12 segments are connected, head
and tail sections need to be added in order to
accommodate the Arduino and batteries. To make
them I used a side bracket and two long C-brackets
connected as in the photo above.
the receiver, the ground pin is connected to the
Arduino ground. The voltage pin is connected to a 5
volt pin from the Arduino (not the separate 7.4 volt
supply) and pins D0 through D3 on the receiver are
connected to pins 14 through 17 on the Arduino,
respectively. (See the figure above.) The keyfob
Snake Robot: Page 3
I put the Arduino and the 5AA battery holder that
powers it into the tail section of the snake. The servos
are powered by a separate supply, the 7.4 volt battery
pack, which went into the head of the snake. All the
servo wires need to run back to the Arduino. I tried to
keep things neat by controlling the wires with the wire
clips. Just make sure there is enough slack along
each run. The servos from head to tail are connected
to Arduino pins 2 through 13. The 5AA battery pack is
connected directly to the Arduino and the 7.4 volt
battery pack is connected to the input supply on the
Arduino sensor shield. I held the batteries and
Arduino in place with Velcro strips.
Remote control is handled by the keyfob transmitter
and receiver I got from Adafruit. I can’t tell you how
useful I find these things. They're a quick and easy
way to add remote control to any Arduino project. On
remote control of the snake will be explained in the
sections below.
 1 1
4 2
6
3
2
5

1. Wire clip with two screw holed drilled into it.
2. Lego wheel set.
1. Servo connections to the Arduino
2. Receiver connections to the Arduino
3. Arduino 5 volt supply for receiver
4. 7.4 volt power supply for servos
5. Remote control transmitter
6. Remote control receiver

1. Head and tail section parts

Snake Robot: Page 4

Step 3: Serpentine Motion
On a real snake, the scales on the snake’s skin are
configured so that there is less friction in the direction
parallel to the snake’s body than there is in the
direction perpendicular to the snake’s body. This is
achieved on the robot snake by attaching passive
wheels to each segment that roll in the direction along
the length of the snake. The result is that the snake
can be propelled forward just by sending a sine or
cosine wave down its body.
The Arduino code for control of this motion is given in
the link below. The servo motors take commands that
set their angle. If all servos are set to 90 degrees,
then the snake's position is a straight line. An angle
less than or greater than 90 will then tell the servo to
bend left or right. The basic command to control each
servo for forward motion is given by a command of
the form:
sn.write(90+amplitude*cos(frequency*counter*3.14
159/180 - n*lag);
In the command above, n is the number of the current
If the wave responsible for the motion of the snake is
centered at 90 degrees, the snake's center of mass
will move in a straight line. If the wave is centered at
an angle less than 90 degrees, the snake will turn left,
and for more than 90 degrees, the snake will turn
right. This is controlled in the code by the variables
leftOffset and rightOffset. Thus, to turn the snake it
is a simple matter of adding one of these offsets to
the write commands in the forward motion loop.
However, since this will result in a somewhat jerky
motion as the snake moves suddenly to the turn
starting position, what I do in the turn loops is slowly
ramp up the offset at the beginning of the turn loop,
and slowly ramp down the offset at the end of the turn
loop. This results in a smoother motion.
Snake Robot: Page 5
segment and takes values from 1 to 12, amplitude
determines how wide the wave is (i.e. how much the
"S" shape is curved), frequency (along the variable
delayTime) determine the speed of the snake,
counter is the loop variable that takes the snake
through its undulation and lag is the constant angular
difference between segments. The term 3.14159/180
is just the degrees to radians conversion.
Each of the servo motors is controlled by a command
of this form and all twelve of these commands are put
into a for loop where the variable counter runs from
0 to 360 degrees. This commands the snake to
perform one forward undulation and ends with the
snake back in its original position. In the loop there is
also a command delay(delayTime);. Since servos do
not respond instantaneously, the code has to pause
to give the servos time to move. For the servos I am
using, a value of 7 microseconds seems to work well
and gives a nice smooth movement. To make the
snake move in reverse, it is the exact same loop, only
with the counter running from 360 down to zero.
Each of four motion commands will complete one
undulation of the desired movement and return the
snake to the exact same position at the end of the
loop. To add remote control to the robot I use the
keyfob transmitter/receiver pair listed in step 1. The
four buttons on the keyfob transmitter correspond to
a) forward, b) reverse, c) left turn, d) right turn. The
receiver is connected to the Arduino with forward to
pin 14, reverse to pin 15, left turn to pin 16 and right
turn to pin 17. These pins are declared as input and
set to LOW. Now I just put the section of code for
each movement into an if loop that runs when the
appropriate pin goes HIGH (i.e. when the appropriate
button is pushed).
 Download (https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FAQ/UZ9D/J16Y9UIU/FAQUZ9DJ16Y9UIU.txt)

http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FAQ/UZ9D/J16Y9UIU/FAQUZ9DJ16Y9UIU.txt
…

(https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FAQ/UZ9D/J16Y9UIU/FAQUZ9DJ16Y9UIU.txt)

Step 4: Rectilinear Motion

Inch worm movement (also known as rectilinear
motion) is achieved by removing the wheels and
setting the snake on its side. (See the photos above.)
A vertical hump sent from the tail of the snake toward
the head moves the snake forward. Unfortunately,
there is no way to turn the snake in this configuration.
That’s where the continuous rotation servo and large
wheel come in. The first segment of the snake is
turned up 90 degrees and two long C-brackets and a
side bracket are used to secure the continuous
rotation servo with the large wheel attached to it. The
wheel is oriented so that it is parallel to the ground.
When the snake wants to turn, the servos along the
snake are positioned so that the wheel comes down
perpendicular to the ground with the front servos off
the ground so that the wheel bears weight. The wheel
can then be rotated left or right to turn the snake.
When the turn is completed, the wheel is returned to
its horizontal position off the ground and the snake
can continue forward.
Remote control is again achieved using the keyfob
remote. The four buttons correspond to a) forward, b)
toggle wheel up/wheel down, c) left turn, d) right turn.
The code contains a variable wheelState that takes
the values 0 or 1. The variable is initialized to 0. If
button b) is pressed and wheelState = 0, then the
wheel will come down and the variable wheelState
will be set to 1. Buttons c) and d) can now be pressed
to turn the robot. When the turn is completed, button
b) is pressed again. When button b) is pressed and
wheelState = 1, the wheel will be lifted and the robot
can continue forward. The variable wheelState will
also then be reset to 0.

Snake Robot: Page 6

 1

1. Components for turning mechanism for the rectilinear configuration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wilygCTrdoo

Snake Robot: Page 7

 Download (https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FQO/YZW7/J140EBJH/FQOYZW7J140EBJH.txt)
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FQO/YZW7/J140EBJH/FQOYZW7J140EBJH.txt
…

(https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FQO/YZW7/J140EBJH/FQOYZW7J140EBJH.txt)

Step 5: Sidewinding Motion

Sidewinding is a motion used by snakes when they
are on shifting terrain such as sand. This motion is
actually a combination of the serpentine and
rectilinear motions described above. To achieve this
motion the robot must be reconfigured. A side bracket
connecting one segment to the C-bracket of the next
segment is unscrewed and rotated 90 degrees. This
is done along the entire length of the snake. Thus
servos 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 will be positioned as for
serpentine motion and servos 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12
will positioned as for rectilinear motion. Sidewinding
motion is achieved by sending a horizontal cosine
wave down the odd numbered servos and a vertical
cosine wave (offset from the horizontal wave by 90
degrees) down the even numbered servos. The result
is a sideways motion.

2 1

1. Vertical segment
2. Horizontal segment

Snake Robot: Page 8

 Download (https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FNG/QX1K/J140EBJU/FNGQX1KJ140EBJU.txt)
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FNG/QX1K/J140EBJU/FNGQX1KJ140EBJU.txt
…

(https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FNG/QX1K/J140EBJU/FNGQX1KJ140EBJU.txt)

Step 6: Rolling Motion

Another type of motion possible for this robot (but not
for real snakes) is rolling. In the rectilinear
configuration, the head and tail can be connected to
form a loop, and the servos can be commanded so
that the robot rolls like a wheel. The symmetry
necessary for this motion requires that the head and
tail sections be removed, so that the Arduino and
batteries cannot be carried by the robot. Thus this
motion is only possible in tethered mode.

Download (https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FIW/KDC2/J140EBJS/FIWKDC2J140EBJS.txt)

http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FIW/KDC2/J140EBJS/FIWKDC2J140EBJS.txt
…

(https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FIW/KDC2/J140EBJS/FIWKDC2J140EBJS.txt)

Step 7: Autonomous Motion

Finally, an IR distance sensor attached to a micro
servo can be connected to the robot’s head to allow
for autonomous movement. This is best done in the
serpentine configuration. The snake will move
forward one complete undulation, stop, and take a
distance measurement. If the path is clear the snake
will continue forward. When it gets too close to an
object, the robot will stop and the micro servo will turn
the distance sensor to the left and right to take two
more distance measurements. The snake will then
reverse one undulation, turn in the direction of the
clearer path, and continue forward.

Snake Robot: Page 9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbdGHT-hGxQ

Download (https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/F11/2SVL/J140EBJB/F112SVLJ140EBJB.txt)

http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F11/2SVL/J140EBJB/F112SVLJ140EBJB.txt
…

(https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/F11/2SVL/J140EBJB/F112SVLJ140EBJB.txt)

Snake Robot: Page 10