Design considerations for a biologically inspired compliant four-legged robot

Abstract

In this paper we summarize some basic principles of legged locomotion in animals and then discuss the application of the principles to the design and fabrication of a four-legged robot. The here presented model combines ideas for better locomotion of robots both in the biologically inspired, mechanically intelligent structure and in the bionic controller. The movement of the legs is triggered by bionic drives with a setup similarly to biological muscles. The robot is characterized by several different gaits and an animal like locomotion without using feedback control. It has four legs, each having three joints of which two are actuated. During the development we also paid attention to the technical realization of the model. Special techniques to reduce the weight of the robot such as the achievement of different motions by changing the spring stiffness by means of intelligent control instead of an additional motor were also focused on during the development. Two novel features of our four-legged concept comprise the possibility of easily changing the spring stiffness deployed in the bionic drives of the joints and the way of this adjustment which requires neither complex computation nor additional motor. This feature allows the smooth transition to different gaits without necessarily having to change the controller parameters.