Snake Robot

Snake Head My housing mounted on the robot, with laser on for 3D scanning. Click through to check out my design process and learn more.	Due to it's unique actuation, the snake can go almost anywhere. Pictured here with the legacy "head", housing only a camera and some LEDs for teleoperation. The snake is conventionally operated with a PS2 controller.	The incorporation of a Structured Light Sensor allowed for near real-time 3D point cloud creation. This opened the door for autonomous behaviors such as Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, a first for the robot. Autonomy greatly expands the deployment options and capabilities.
Internals On the left is the second iteration of my design, on the right is the 9th and final model. The design process lasted roughly six weeks.	Pictured with a quarter for scale, the internal components all mounted to a front plate for easy assembly and adjustment. Visible is the camera housing (bottom right), laser housing (left), and LED PCB clamp. Critical components were positioned with dowel pins.	COTS HD bullet cameras were used for sensing, installed in a custom housing.
Assembly Explosion The entire module is sealed with o-rings. Power and signal lines are passed through a pinned connector at the back.	During the later stages of the design phase, I prototyped components on a Stratasys Objet30 Pro 3D printer. The printer has similar tolerances as most machining operations, which allowed me to quickly and cheaply check alignment and fit on component parts.	us_head_face In addition to CAD files, this is one of the drawings I made, straight from the RFQ package I sent out to machine shops. Visible are callouts such as tapped holes and tightened dowel pin tolerances. Exterior components received an anodized finish for abrasion resistance.
us_laser_mounting_bracket An example internal component. Standoffs were used to mount parts due to packaging constraints.

Snake Robot

2013

During my time at the Vision and Autonomous Systems Lab at the CMU Robotics Insitute, I designed the next generation housing for a modular snake robot. The "head" housed all vision and navigation components, making it critical for proper operation of the robot.

The design process lasted just over 6 weeks. Using a formal design review process, I iterated through 9 revisions before all performance requirements were satisfied. Final manufacturing was outsoured to a third party machine shop, selected out of many shops through a standard RFQ process. The project was completed on deadline, including a fixture for off-robot testing using an Arduino and Matlab. My work culminated in coauthoring a publication for IEEE's ICRA 2014, one of the largest robotics conferences in the world.

Max Queenan

Snake Head

My housing mounted on the robot, with laser on for 3D scanning. Click through to check out my design process and learn more.

Due to it's unique actuation, the snake can go almost anywhere. Pictured here with the legacy "head", housing only a camera and some LEDs for teleoperation. The snake is conventionally operated with a PS2 controller.

The incorporation of a Structured Light Sensor allowed for near real-time 3D point cloud creation. This opened the door for autonomous behaviors such as Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, a first for the robot. Autonomy greatly expands the deployment options and capabilities.

Internals

On the left is the second iteration of my design, on the right is the 9th and final model. The design process lasted roughly six weeks.

Pictured with a quarter for scale, the internal components all mounted to a front plate for easy assembly and adjustment. Visible is the camera housing (bottom right), laser housing (left), and LED PCB clamp. Critical components were positioned with dowel pins.

COTS HD bullet cameras were used for sensing, installed in a custom housing.

Assembly Explosion

The entire module is sealed with o-rings. Power and signal lines are passed through a pinned connector at the back.

During the later stages of the design phase, I prototyped components on a Stratasys Objet30 Pro 3D printer. The printer has similar tolerances as most machining operations, which allowed me to quickly and cheaply check alignment and fit on component parts.

us_head_face

In addition to CAD files, this is one of the drawings I made, straight from the RFQ package I sent out to machine shops. Visible are callouts such as tapped holes and tightened dowel pin tolerances. Exterior components received an anodized finish for abrasion resistance.

us_laser_mounting_bracket

An example internal component. Standoffs were used to mount parts due to packaging constraints.

Snake Robot

2013