Elongate limbless robots have the potential to locomote through tightly packed spaces for applications such as search-and-rescue and industrial inspections. The capability to effectively and robustly maneuver elongate limbless robots is crucial to realize such potential. However, there has been limited research on turning strategies for such systems. To achieve effective and robust turning performance in cluttered spaces, we take inspiration from a microscopic nematode, C. elegans, which exhibits remarkable maneuverability in rheologically complex environments partially because of its ability to perform omega turns. Despite recent efforts to analyze omega turn kinematics, it remains unknown if there exists a wave equation sufficient to prescribe an omega turn, let alone its reconstruction on robot platforms. Here, using a comparative theory-biology approach, we prescribe the omega turn as a superposition of two traveling waves. With wave equations as a guideline, we design a controller for limbless robots enabling robust and effective turning behaviors in lab and cluttered field environments. Finally, we show that such omega turn controllers can also generalize to elongate multi-legged robots, demonstrating an alternative effective body-driven turning strategy for elongate robots, with and without limbs.

翻译：细长无肢机器人具有在紧密空间内移动的潜力，可应用于搜救和工业检测等领域。为实现这一潜力，有效且鲁棒地操控细长无肢机器人的转向能力至关重要。然而，目前针对此类系统转向策略的研究仍较为有限。为在杂乱空间中实现有效且鲁棒的转向性能，我们从微观线虫秀丽隐杆线虫（C. elegans）中汲取灵感，该生物在流变学复杂环境中展现出卓越的机动性，部分归功于其执行Omega转向的能力。尽管近期已有研究分析Omega转向的运动学特性，但尚不清楚是否存在足以描述Omega转向的波动方程，更遑论在机器人平台上的重构。本文通过理论-生物学比较研究的方法，将Omega转向描述为两个行波的叠加。以波动方程为指导，我们为无肢机器人设计了控制器，使其能在实验室及杂乱野外环境中实现鲁棒且有效的转向行为。最后，我们证明此类Omega转向控制器亦可推广至细长多足机器人，为带肢或不带肢的细长机器人展示了一种有效的替代性身体驱动转向策略。