Various gait pattern generation and analysis of semi‑passive quadruped walker with telescopic knee based on phase oscillator

Shoichi Miwa, Tetsuya Kinugasa, Kii Oba, Takumi Ishihara, Jialun Zhang, Ryota Hayashi, Koji Yoshida

It is known that the gait changes in accordance with the travel velocity by exploiting the body dynamics in the study of quadruped robots. For instance, some studies attained passive dynamic quadruped gaits such as a pace with a rigid trunk and a trot with a roll joint. The quadruped gait by the decentralized phase oscillator was reported, which exhibited a gait transition due to the intrinsic oscillator frequency. The robots had relatively short legs, which provides a stable upright posture, and the locomotion would not be influenced strongly by body dynamics. In this study, the quadruped RW06-Duo based on the passive dynamic walking mechanism, in which CoM is located at a high position, is developed and attains quadruped locomotion by the phase oscillator. The limb joints except for the knee (elbow) can rotate freely and passively; therefore, intralimb coordination is attained passively, and the phase oscillator and spine stiffness provide interlimb coordination. RW06-Duo exhibits different gaits according to travel velocity and demonstrates the gait transition from pace to trot or DS walk for the same oscillator frequency and stiffness.

Artificial Life and Robotics

Springer

28

540

546

doi.org/10.1007/s10015-023-00862-2