Self-stabilising quadrupedal running by mechanical design

Chatzakos, P; Papadopoulos, E

dc.contributor.author	Chatzakos, P	en
dc.contributor.author	Papadopoulos, E	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-01T01:31:51Z
dc.date.available	2014-03-01T01:31:51Z
dc.date.issued	2009	en
dc.identifier.issn	11762322	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.lib.ntua.gr/xmlui/handle/123456789/19959
dc.subject	Dynamic running	en
dc.subject	Dynamic similarity	en
dc.subject	Mechanical design	en
dc.subject	Passive dynamics	en
dc.subject	Quadruped robot	en
dc.subject	Self-stability	en
dc.subject.other	Dynamic running	en
dc.subject.other	Mechanical design	en
dc.subject.other	Passive dynamics	en
dc.subject.other	Quadruped robot	en
dc.subject.other	Self-stability	en
dc.subject.other	Animals	en
dc.subject.other	Disturbance rejection	en
dc.subject.other	Mechanical properties	en
dc.subject.other	Mechanisms	en
dc.subject.other	Mechatronics	en
dc.subject.other	Multipurpose robots	en
dc.subject.other	Stiffness	en
dc.subject.other	System stability	en
dc.subject.other	Vibrations (mechanical)	en
dc.subject.other	Machine design	en
dc.title	Self-stabilising quadrupedal running by mechanical design	en
heal.type	journalArticle	en
heal.identifier.primary	10.1080/11762320902863908	en
heal.identifier.secondary	http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/11762320902863908	en
heal.publicationDate	2009	en
heal.abstract	Dynamic stability allows running animals to maintain preferred speed during locomotion over rough terrain. It appears that rapid disturbance rejection is an emergent property of the mechanical system. In running robots, simple motor control seems to be effective in the negotiation of rough terrain when used in concert with a mechanical system that stabilises passively. Spring-like legs are a means for providing self-stabilising characteristics against external perturbations. In this paper, we show that a quadruped robot could be able to perform self-stable running behaviour in significantly broader ranges of forward speed and pitch rate with a suitable mechanical design, which is not limited to choosing legs spring stiffness only. The results presented here are derived by studying the stability of the passive dynamics of a quadruped robot running in the sagittal plane in a dimensionless context and might explain the success of simple, open loop running controllers on existing experimental quadruped robots. These can be summarised in (a) the self-stabilised behaviour of a quadruped robot for a particular gait is greatly related to the magnitude of its dimensionless body inertia, (b) the values of hip separation, normalised to rest leg length, and leg relative stiffness of a quadruped robot affect the stability of its motion and should be in inverse proportion to its dimensionless body inertia, and (c) the self-stable regime of quadruped running robots is enlarged at relatively high forward speeds. We anticipate the proposed guidelines to assist in the design of new, and modifications of existing, quadruped robots. As an example, specific design changes for the Scout II quadruped robot that might improve its performance are proposed.	en
heal.journalName	Applied Bionics and Biomechanics	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1080/11762320902863908	en
dc.identifier.volume	6	en
dc.identifier.issue	1	en
dc.identifier.spage	73	en
dc.identifier.epage	85	en