Quadruped Robots Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

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- Animation, Animation Theory, Computer Animation, Character Animation

Boston Dynamics' robotic quadrupeds have achieved infamy and virality through a series of social media videos since 2008. In 2019 Boston Dynamics began commercial sale of 'Spot', a moving, sensing, networked robot dog. Spot has been designed to be a platform, which can be augmented with hardware payloads (e.g. sensors, robotic arm) and software to command Spot to conduct specific missions. In this paper we first trace the development of Spot and highlight the interest of the United States military in its development. This is followed by our text analysis of social media reactions to Boston Dynamics' quadrupeds, revealing public fascination as well as ongoing suspicion and dark humour about 'killer robots'. We then discuss how humanitarian applications, including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, have been used as an opportunity to promote Spot and overcome public negativity. This is an example of a more general strategy advocates use to garner acceptance for autonomous robots in both civilian and military roles using humanitarian justifications: the robots 'save lives.' We conclude by discussing how Spot and other robot quadrupeds demonstrate the intertwining of humanitarian and military applications in the development, normalization and deployment of autonomous robots.

- by Geoffrey Ford
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- Humanitarianism, Sentiment Analysis, Legged Robots, Military Robotics

This thesis presents advances in the state-of-the-art in legged locomotion through the de- velopment of bounding and galloping gaits as well as new modes of hybrid wheeled-leg modes of locomotion. Two four-legged running robots, Scout II and PAW, are examined, the latter of which is distinguished by actuated wheels at the ends of its legs.
First, hybrid modes of locomotion are demonstrated which use legs to dynamically reposition wheels at specific locations with respect to the body. These modes improve the stability and tire-wear of turning and braking manoeuvres and allow pitch-controlled slope ascent and descent in a wheeled-leg vehicle such as the PAW robot.
Second, through hip actuation, passive leg compliance and controlled wheel action it is possible to make the same vehicle run using a dynamically stable legged gait called the bound. Experimental evidence of this is presented and compared to similar experiments on the same robot with mechanically blocked wheels, a 3D simulation of the same, as well as bounding on a completely different quadrupedal robot, Scout II. While a casual observer finds no difference in blocked-wheel and active wheel control modes, detailed examination of the gaits reveals lower speeds and efficiency as well as decreased repeatability when the wheels are actively controlled.
A new method of forward speed control is presented for the bounding gait using liftoff, as opposed to touchdown, leg angles. The liftoff angle method of speed control is shown to be particularly suited to fine-tuning of certain gait performance indices.
Third, the underactuated bounding gait is extended to demonstrate, for the first time, that robotic galloping is possible and that it can be achieved in two underactuated quad- rupedal robots and with varying levels of decoupled control. In the Scout II robot the front leg pair and rear leg pairs function independently, while in the PAW robot galloping is achieved with no controlled coupling between any of the four legs. The rotary gallop gait demonstrated by both robots is characterized by a significant yaw component and is compared to another bound-derived turning gait which uses liftoff angles to produce yaw. In particular, the correspondence of lead leg to yaw direction in both cases is found to match results from biology. In contrast, while it is thought that animals pivot about their lead leg to turn, the rotary gallop demonstrated by these robots shows that yaw occurs primarily in the leg behind the lead leg.

- by James A Smith
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- Mobile Robotics, Biomechanics, Biology, Bio-Inspired Systems

This paper reports design, fabrication, and gait planning based on high walk diagonal trot gait pattern of an alligator inspired robot having eight degrees of freedom. Each leg of the robot described in this paper has two revolute joints
representing the hip and knee respectively which are actuated by servo motors. The body of the robot was fabricated on a
CO2 laser cutting machine. The 3D leg design was divided into two 2D components to enable manufacturing on a laser
cutting machine to reduce fabrication cycle time. Finally, a general-purpose kinematics based model has been reported
that is used to design and implement a high-walk gait on the developed robot.

- by Anand Kumar Mishra
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- Bio inspired robotics, Kinematics, Quadruped Robots, Alligator-inspired

A series of experiments and simulations are presented here that provide insight into how an underactuated quadrupedal robot can gallop in a controlled manner simply by controlling touchdown and liftoff angles of the legs. Initial work resulted in a rotary gallop with significant yaw. On that basis, two hypotheses are presented and validated here to yield straight-line galloping. The first hypothesis is that the yaw can be controlled by adjusting the liftoff angle of a rear leg – specifically, the rear leg found on the inside radius of the turn. However, it is not guaranteed that the resulting gait will remain a gallop. Based on the validation of this first hypothesis and, having observed that animals can gallop in straight lines, a second hypothesis is put forward that, upon finding an initial stable gallop gait with non-negligible yaw, if sequential adjustments are made to both the touchdown and liftoff angles then it will be possible to zero the yaw while also providing for sufficient phase difference between successive toe contacts to classify the gait as a gallop. The hypotheses are confirmed with experiments showing a repeatable straightened gallop at 0.7 m/s.

- by James A Smith
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- Robotics, Mobile Robotics, Biomechanics, Running

In this paper, we present a complete description of the hardware design and control architecture of our custom built quadruped robot, called the Stoch. Our goal is to realize a robust, modular, and a reliable quadrupedal platform, using which various locomotion behaviors are explored. This platform enables us to explore different research problems in legged locomotion, which use both traditional and learning based techniques. We discuss the merits and limitations of the platform in terms of exploitation of available behaviours, fast rapid prototyping, reproduction and repair. Towards the end, we will demonstrate trotting, bounding behaviors, and preliminary results in turning. In addition, we will also show various gait transitions i.e., trot-to-turn and trot-to-bound behaviors.

- by Dhaivat Dholakiya
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- Robotics, Mobile Robotics, Legged Robots, Quadruped Robots

In this paper there is presented the design process and experimental verification of the quadruped robot wave gait. Mathematical model of a robot movement is a result of linking together derived leg movement equations with a scheme of their locomotion. The gait is designed and analysed based on two-step design procedure which consists of simulations using MSC Adams and Matlab environments and experimental verification using real quadruped robot.

- by Jakub Mozaryn
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- Robotics, Control Systems Engineering, Gait and Balance, Quadruped Robots

In this paper, dynamics and gait planning of a quadruped robot is discussed. To this end, using Lagrangian method the equations of motion are first derived. Then, an approach is proposed to eliminate the terms corresponding to the constraints caused by the feet on the ground. The obtained dynamics model is validated using Matlab SimMechanics. Finally, gait planning of the robot is developed such that the robot can walk with a given speed over a flat terrain while the robot center of mass remains inside the support polygon. Obtained results reveal stable walking of a quadruped robot based on the proposed approach.

- by Ali Zamani
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- System Dynamics Modeling, Stability, Control Systems, Quadruped Robots

The Wheeled robots cannot work properly on the rocky surface or uneven surface. They consume a lot of power and struggle when they go on rocky surface. To tackle the disadvantages of wheeled robot we replaced the wheels like shaped legs with the spider legs or spider arms. Quadruped robot has complicated moving patterns and it can also move on surfaces where wheeled shaped robots would fail. They can easily walk on rocky or uneven surface. The main purpose of the project is to develop a consistent platform that enables the implementation of steady and fast static/dynamic walking on ground/Platform to deliver medicines to covid-19 patients. The main advantage of spider robot also called as quadruped robot is that it is Bluetooth controlled robot, through the android application, we can control robot from anywhere; it avoids the obstacle using ultrasonic sensor.

- by IAEME Publication
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- Quadruped Robots, Bluetooth module, Multi-terrain robots, Iaeme Ijaret

This research paper addresses the problem of generating involuntary and precise animation of quadrupeds with automatic rigging system of various character types. The technique proposed through this research is based on a two tier animation control curve with base simulation being driven through dynamic mathematical model using procedural algorithm and the top layer with a custom user controlled animation provided with intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI). The character rig is based on forward and inverse kinematics driven through trigonometric based motion equations. The User is provided with various manipulators and attributes to control and handle the locomotion gaits of the characters and choose between various types of simulated motions from walking, running, trotting, ambling and galloping with complete custom controls to easily extend the base simulation as per requirements.

Character rigging is a process of endowing a character with a set of custom manipulators and controls
making it easy to animate by the animators. These controls consist of simple joints, handles, or even
separate character selection windows.This research paper present an automated rigging system for
quadruped characters with custom controls and manipulators for animation.The full character rigging
mechanism is procedurally driven based on various principles and requirements used by the riggers and
animators. The automation is achieved initially by creating widgets according to the character type. These
widgets then can be customized by the rigger according to the character shape, height and proportion.
Then joint locations for each body parts are calculated and widgets are replaced programmatically.Finally
a complete and fully operational procedurally generated character control rig is created and attached with
the underlying skeletal joints. The functionality and feasibility of the rig was analyzed from various source
of actual character motion and a requirements criterion was met. The final rigged character provides an
efficient and easy to manipulate control rig with no lagging and at high frame rate.

- by Zeeshan Bhatti
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- Animation, Animation Theory, Computer Animation, 3D Rigging

In this paper, we present a complete description of the hardware design and control architecture of our custom built quadruped robot, called the `Stoch'. Our goal is to realize a robust, modular, and a reliable quadrupedal platform, using which various locomotion behaviors are explored. This platform enables us to explore different research problems in legged locomotion, which use both traditional and learning based techniques. We discuss the merits and limitations of the platform in terms of exploitation of available behaviours, fast rapid prototyping, reproduction and repair. Towards the end, we will demonstrate trotting, bounding behaviors, and preliminary results in turning. In addition, we will also show various gait transitions i.e., trot-to-turn and trot-to-bound behaviors.

- by Shounak Bhattacharya
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- Robotics, Computer Science, Mobile Robotics, Legged Robots
- by Mete Kalyoncu
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- Computer Science, Optimization techniques, Legged Robots, Bees Algorithms
- by ali moosavian
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- Mechatronics, Control Engineering, System Dynamics Modeling, Motion control

Quadruped robot dynamic gaits have much more advantages than static gaits on speed and efficiency, however high speed and efficiency calls for more complex mechanical structure and complicated control algorithm. It becomes even more challenging when the robot has more degrees of freedom. As a result, most of the present researches focused on simple robot, while the researches on dynamic gaits for complex robot with more degrees of freedom are relatively limited. The paper is focusing on the dynamic gaits control for complex robot with twenty degrees of freedom for the first time. Firstly, we build a relatively complete 3D model for quadruped robot based on spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) model, analyze the inverse kinematics of the model, plan the trajectory of the swing foot and analyze the hydraulic drive. Secondly, we promote the control algorithm of one-legged to the quadruped robot based on the virtual leg and plan the state variables of pace gait and bound gait. Lastly, we realize the above two kinds of dynamic gaits in ADAMS-MATLAB joint simulation platform which testify the validity of above method.

- by IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica
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- Quadruped Robots, Degree of Freedom, Dynamic Gait, Foot Trajectory

Model-based Control of a quadruped robot based on designed stable gaits is the focus of this paper. To this end, first explicit dynamics equations are obtained. Next, stable gait planning of the robot is investigated such that the robot can walk with a given speed over the terrain. Finally, the Sliding Mode Control (SMC) approach is applied, and a new chattering elimination method is proposed by adding a PD term to the control input. Obtained simulation results show that the performance of the SMC in terms of the tracking errors will be improved even in the presence of significant disturbances. Therefore, using the proposed approach compared to the conventional SMC will be more practically reliable.

- by Ali Zamani
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- Control Engineering, System Dynamics Modeling, Motion control, Stability

Uner Tan syndrome (UTS) consists of quadrupedal locomotion (QL), impaired intelligence, and dysarthric or no speech.
The only gait analysis previously performed for UTS
was of a few cases from only one family (Shapiro et al., 2014). This article presents a representable sample for the gait analysis of UTS.
Hip and knee angles during quadrupedal standing were measured in UTS cases, healthy controls with requested QL, and nonhuman primates.
Limb phases were assessed from video footages.
UTS cases and nonhuman primates exhibited quadrupedal standing with straight legs nearly perpendicular to the ground.
Healthy individuals could not walk quadrupedally like the UTS cases, but could perform QL only with flexed legs. UTS cases
and healthy individuals with free (flexed-leg) QL used
predominantly lateral sequence-diagonal couplet (LSDC) walks (LSDC) walks. Terrestrial primates preferred DS gaits.
Healthy individuals with free quadrupedal locomotion were like arboreal primates in quadrupedal posture.
The results show that while the QL is mostly lateral
sequence, there are similarities in gait characteristics
with terrestrial primate locomotion, whereas the QL in
healthy individuals had similarities with arboreal
primate locomotion. These findings have implications
in the evolution of bipedal locomotion in human beings
and in the quadrupedal locomotion in UTS cases.
Healthy individuals could not imitate the
QL of the UTS cases, so a comparison of the UTS
cases with healthy individuals is not justified. Although
these results do not seem to support the thesis of
locomotor evolution in reverse, nobody knows with
certainty who our ancestors were or how they walked,
and so the possibility of UTS as an example for the
ancestral reappearance of QL in human beings cannot
be positively excluded. This locomotor evolution in
reverse was supported by experimental evidence.

- by Üner Tan
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- Dynamical Systems, Intelligence, Evolution, Gait and Locomotion (Psychology)

This paper presents a GA (Genetic Algorithm) approach to the development of locomotion gait for Sony quadruped robots. The selection of GA parameters such as the population size and recombination methods is made to be flexible and strive towards optimal performance autonomously. An interactive software environment with an overhead CCD camera is used to evaluate the performance of the generated gaits. The experimental results are given to show that the stable and fast gaits have been achieved.

- by Dragos Golubovic
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- Computer Science, Genetic Algorithms, Genetic Algorithm, Population Size

- by Shounak Bhattacharya
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- Robotics, Mobile Robotics, Legged Robots, IEEE

This paper presents a leg reconfigurable technique to optimize the hexapod robot reconfiguration flexiblity. A hexapod-to-quadruped (Hexa-Quad) transformation technique is proposed to optimize hexapod legs on certain situation that need some legs to be disabled as a leg to do other tasks and operations. This proposed method used the factor of center of body (CoB) stability in the support polygon and its body shape. The reinitialized leg’s shoulder method is proposed to ensure the support polygon is balanced and confirmed the CoM nearly or at the center. This method is modeled and simulated in a real-time based model of hexapod robot with 4-DOF/leg control architecture. The model is verified in numerical model and presented using separated 3D simulators.

- by Addie Irawan
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- Robotics, Hexapod Robot, Reconfigurable Robot, Quadruped Robots