Robotics: Science and Systems XIV

Coordination of back bending and leg movements for quadrupedal locomotion

Baxi Chong, Yasemin Ozkan Aydin, Chaohui Gong, Guillaume Sartoretti, Yunjin Wu, Jennifer Rieser, Haosen Xing, Jeffery Rankin, Krijn Michel, Alfredo Nicieza, John Hutchinson, Daniel Goldman, Howie Choset

Abstract:

Many quadrupedal animals have lateral degrees of freedom in their backs that assist locomotion. This paper seeks to use a robotic model to demonstrate that back bending assists not only forward motion, but also lateral and turning motions. This paper uses geometric mechanics to prescribe gaits that coordinate both leg movements and back bending motion. Using these geometric tools, we show that back-bending can improve stride displacement in the forward, rotational, and lateral directions. In addition to locomotion performance improvement, the back bending can also expand the target position space a robot can reach within one gait cycle. Our results are verified by conducting experiments with a robot moving on granular materials.

Download:

Bibtex:

  
@INPROCEEDINGS{Chong-RSS-18, 
    AUTHOR    = {Baxi Chong AND Yasemin Ozkan Aydin AND Chaohui Gong AND Guillaume Sartoretti AND Yunjin Wu AND Jennifer Rieser AND Haosen Xing AND Jeffery Rankin AND Krijn Michel AND Alfredo Nicieza AND John Hutchinson AND Daniel Goldman AND Howie Choset}, 
    TITLE     = {Coordination of back bending and leg movements for quadrupedal locomotion}, 
    BOOKTITLE = {Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems}, 
    YEAR      = {2018}, 
    ADDRESS   = {Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania}, 
    MONTH     = {June}, 
    DOI       = {10.15607/RSS.2018.XIV.020} 
}