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Biologically inspired gait transition control for a quadruped walking robot

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Abstract

The gait transition of a quadruped walking robot is the switching of gait with non-periodic gait sequences between the periodic ones such as from walk to trot or trot to walk etc. It is very much important because the robot should change its gait depending upon the moving speed to enhance the efficiency of locomotion. In this paper, we present a quasi-static gait transition control method for a quadruped walking robot. It is based on the observation on the locomotion behaviors of quadruped animals, which show a sudden and discrete changes of gait patterns depending on the speed. The method predefines gait transition patterns, and gait sequences are determined according to the current and desired leg postures. It can be useful because the applicable to any type of walking controller. In this study, we implement the proposed method on a self-contained quadruped walking robot, called Artificial Digitigrade for Natural Environment Version III (AiDIN-III), and its effectiveness is experimentally validated.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. 2014R1A2A2A01005241).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA

    Ig Mo Koo

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Chonch’on-dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Kyonggi-do, Korea

    Tran Duc Trong, Yoon Haeng Lee, Hyungpil Moon, Jachoon Koo & Hyouk Ryeol Choi

  3. Division of Applied Robot Technology, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Ansan, Korea

    Sangdoek Park

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  1. Ig Mo Koo
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  2. Tran Duc Trong
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  3. Yoon Haeng Lee
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  4. Hyungpil Moon
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  5. Jachoon Koo
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  7. Hyouk Ryeol Choi
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Correspondence to Hyouk Ryeol Choi.

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Koo, I.M., Trong, T.D., Lee, Y.H. et al. Biologically inspired gait transition control for a quadruped walking robot. Auton Robot 39, 169–182 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-015-9433-4

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