Serpentronic

Robotic Snake

By,
Panimalar Institute Of
What To Look For :
INTRODUCTION
 Snakes are characterized by a long, slender body covered in overlapping scales.
 Snakes possess a backbone and ribs that may number in the hundreds. The
eyelids do not move but are fused to form transparent spectacles. The jaws of
the mouth are not fused which gives the snake the ability to open its mouth
wide.
 Most snakes achieve locomotion by slithering along an S-shaped path. On land,
a snake presses down and pushes forward from the curve of its body. The same
slithering action also works well in the
 water.
 Snakes move relatively slowly, and could not keep up with a person walking at
a normal pace, which is about 4 miles per hour. The scales on a snake’s body
give them better traction as they slide along.
 They use rippling muscles in their bellies to shift their wide scales on edge. The
edges catch on the ground and allow the snake to pull itself along.
 The snake and its method of locomotion are the inspiration
for the robot.
 The figure shows a typical snake (Northern Death Adder),
along with its biologically inspired robotic counterpart.
 The robot snake measures 28 inches in length, from head
to tail, and is 2-1/2 inches wide. Figure illustrates the size
of the snake relative to a human.
OVERVIEW OF THE
SERPENTRONIC PROJECT
The robot snake that will be built and programmed in this project consists of six


segments and a head, with each segment being powered by an R/C servo.
 The segments alternate in orientation so that the first segment moves in a
horizontal motion and the next segment moves in a vertical motion. This
sequence repeats itself for all six segments and the head, as shown in Figures.
 This gives the snake enough flexibility to move its body in a number of
different ways in order to achieve locomotion, in much the same way as a
biological snake.
 The robot is controlled by a Microchip PIC 16F84 microcontroller. The
microcontroller is used to sequence the movement of each of the snake’s body
sections via servos. The microcontroller also monitors an infrared sensor so that
the snake will avoid obstacles as it explores.
MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION
OF SERPENTRONIC
 The construction of the robot snake will begin with the mechanical construction
of the body, head, and tail. The parts needed for the mechanical construction
are listed in Table.
 Parts Quantity
 1/16-inch thick aluminum stock 8-foot 10-foot piece
 6/32 1/2-inch machine screws 98
 6/32 locking nuts 98
 6/32 nylon washers 6
 Standard R/C servo and hardware 6
 The body, head, and tail are constructed using 1/16-inch flat Steel.
CONSTRUCTING THE BODY
SECTIONS
It is started by cutting six pieces of the 1/16-inch Steel to a size of 7-1/2 inches


2-1/2 inches. These pieces will be identified as piece A of each of the six body
sections. When the pieces are cut, a 5/32-inch drill bit to drill the holes, as
indicated in the diagram. File any rough edges from the pieces. Bend each
piece in a table vise or on the edge of a table.
 The next piece that will make up each of the body sections is also cut from
1/16-inch thick Steel. Six pieces are cut to a size of 2-1/2 inches 5-3/4 inches
each. These pieces will be identified as piece B of each of the six body sections.
When the pieces are cut, use a 5/32-inch drill bit to drill the holes.
 The pieces A and B are attached together using three 6/32-inch 1/2-inch
machine screws and locking nuts. Note that piece B is attached so that it is
positioned on top of piece A. The above process is continued until all six body
segments are completed.
 A standard servo is attached to each body segment using four 6/32-inch 1/2-
inch machine screws and locking nuts. When the servo is positioned in the
body segment, the servo shaft side of the servo is attached to piece B. The
standard servos are added to the remaining body segments.
 Six pieces of 1/16-inch thick steel are cut to a size of 4-1/4 inches 1 inch. Cut,
drill, and bend each piece C.
ASSEMBLING THE SNAKE’S
MECHANICAL STRUCTURE
Now that all of the individual pieces that make up the snake’s mechanical body


have been constructed, it is time to put them all together.

 The servo horn linkages are started by connecting made up of part C and a
servo horn to each of the servos of each of the six body sections,
 Turn the servo by hand all the way clockwise, and check to see if it is on a 90-
degree angle from the center position. Turn the servo horn linkage all the way
counterclockwise, and verify that it is also positioned on a 90-degree angle
from the center position. Attach in place with the servo horn mounting screw
that came with the servo. This procedure is followed for each of the six body
sections.
SERPENTRONIC’S MAIN
CONTROLLER BOARD
This section focuses on the construction of the robot’s main controller circuit


and the fabrication of the printed circuit board (PCB).All of the robot’s
functions are controlled by a Microchip PIC 16F877 microcontroller.
 The microcontroller serves as the robot’s “brain,” controlling and managing all
functions, sensors, and reflexes. The 16F877 microcontroller that we are using
will be clocked at 4 MHz and operates on a 5-volt DC supply, with the source
being a 9-volt battery.
 Each of the six servos used to move the body sections are powered by this DC
power source.
MICROCONTROLLER 16F877 CORE
FEATURES
 • High-performance RISC CPU
 • Only 35 single word instructions to learn
 • All single cycle instructions except for program branches which are two cycle
 • Operating speed: DC - 20 MHz clock input DC - 200 ns instruction cycle
 • Up to 8K x 14 words of FLASH Program Memory,
Up to 368 x 8 bytes of Data Memory (RAM)
Up to 256 x 8 bytes of EEPROM data memory
 • Interrupt capability (up to 14 sources)
 • Eight level deep hardware stack
 • Direct, indirect and relative addressing modes
 • Power-on Reset (POR)
 • Power-up Timer (PWRT) and Oscillator Start-up Timer (OST)
 • Watchdog Timer (WDT) with its own on-chip RC oscillator for reliable operation
 • Programmable code-protection
 • Power saving SLEEP mode
 • Selectable oscillator options
 • Low-power, high-speed CMOS FLASH/EEPROM technology.
PERIPHERAL FEATURES
 • Timer0: 8-bit timer/counter with 8-bit prescaler
 • Timer1: 16-bit timer/counter with prescaler,
 can be incremented during sleep via external
 crystal/clock
 • Timer2: 8-bit timer/counter with 8-bit period register, prescaler and postscaler
 • Two Capture, Compare, PWM modules
 - Capture is 16-bit, max. resolution is 12.5 ns
 - Compare is 16-bit, max. resolution is 200 ns
 - PWM max. resolution is 10-bit
 • 10-bit multi-channel Analog-to-Digital converter
 • Synchronous Serial Port (SSP) with SPIä (Master Mode) and I2Cä (Master/Slave)
 • Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (USART/SCI) with 9-bit address
detection
 • Parallel Slave Port (PSP) 8-bits wide, with external RD, WR and CS controls (40/44-pin only)
 • Brown-out detection circuitry for Brown-out Reset (BOR).
FINAL IMAGES