Smart Gait:A Gait Optimization Framework for Hexapod Robots

The current gait planning for legged robots is mostly based on human presets,which cannot match the flexible characteristics of natural mammals.This paper proposes a gait optimization framework for hexapod robots called Smart Gait.Smart Gait contains three modules:swing leg trajectory optimization,gait period&duty optimization,and gait sequence optimization.The full dynamics of a single leg,and the centroid dynamics of the overall robot are considered in the respective modules.The Smart Gait not only helps the robot to decrease the energy consumption when in locomotion,mostly,it enables the hexapod robot to determine its gait pattern transitions based on its current state,instead of repeating the formalistic clock-set step cycles.Our Smart Gait framework allows the hexapod robot to behave nimbly as a living animal when in 3D movements for the first time.The Smart Gait framework combines offline and online optimizations without any fussy data-driven training procedures,and it can run efficiently on board in real-time after deployment.Various experiments are carried out on the hexapod robot LittleStrong.The results show that the energy consumption is reduced by 15.9%when in locomotion.Adaptive gait patterns can be generated spontaneously both in regular and challenge environments,and when facing external interferences.

A Closed-Loop Dynamic Controller for Active Vibration Isolation Working on A Parallel Wheel-Legged Robot

Serving the Stewart mechanism as a wheel-legged structure,the most outstanding superiority of the proposed wheel-legged hybrid robot(WLHR)is the active vibration isolation function during rolling on rugged terrain.However,it is difficult to obtain its precise dynamic model,because of the nonlinearity and uncertainty of the heavy robot.This paper presents a dynamic control framework with a decentralized structure for single wheel-leg,position tracking based on model predictive control(MPC)and adaptive impedance module from inside to outside.Through the Newton-Euler dynamic model of the Stewart mechanism,the controller first creates a predictive model by combining Newton-Raphson iteration of forward kinematic and inverse kinematic calculation of Stewart.The actuating force naturally enables each strut to stretch and retract,thereby realizing six degrees-of-freedom(6-DOFs)position-tracking for Stewart wheel-leg.The adaptive impedance control in the outermost loop adjusts environmental impedance parameters by current position and force feedback of wheel-leg along Z-axis.This adjustment allows the robot to adequately control the desired support force tracking,isolating the robot body from vibration that is generated from unknown terrain.The availability of the proposed control methodology on a physical prototype is demonstrated by tracking a Bezier curve and active vibration isolation while the robot is rolling on decelerate strips.By comparing the proportional and integral(PI)and constant impedance controllers,better performance of the proposed algorithm was operated and evaluated through displacement and force sensors internally-installed in each cylinder,as well as an inertial measurement unit(IMU)mounted on the robot body.The proposed algorithm structure significantly enhances the control accuracy and vibration isolation capacity of parallel wheel-legged robot.

Design of A Novel Wheel-Legged Robot with Rim Shape Changeable Wheels

The wheel-legged hybrid structure has been utilized by ground mobile platforms in recent years to achieve good mobility on both flat surfaces and rough terrain.However,most of the wheel-legged robots only have one-directional obstacle-crossing ability.During the motion,most of the wheel-legged robots’centroid fluctuates violently,which damages the stability of the load.What’s more,many designs of the obstacle-crossing part and transformation-driving part of this structure are highly coupled,which limits its optimal performance in both aspects.This paper presents a novel wheel-legged robot with a rim-shaped changeable wheel,which has a bi-directional and smooth obstacle-crossing ability.Based on the kinematic model,the geometric parameters of the wheel structure and the design variables of the driving four-bar mechanism are optimized separately.The kinetostatics model of the mobile platform when climbing stairs is established to determine the body length and angular velocity of the driving wheels.A pro-totype is made according to the optimal parameters.Experiments show that the prototype installed with the novel transformable wheels can overcome steps with a height of 1.52 times of its wheel radius with less fluctuation of its centroid and performs good locomotion capabilities in different environments.

Wheel-legged Hexapod Robots:a Multifunctional Mobile Manipulating Platform

Robots are widely used to replace people in some burdensome or hamaful areas. Not only the moving ability but also the manipulating ability is needed in the missions of complex multitasking requirements. In the last decades, wheel-legged hexapod robots are extensively studied to ineet this condition.

Design and Optimization of Wheel-legged Robot:Rolling-Wolf

Though the studies of wheel-legged robots have achieved great success, the existing ones still have defects in load distribution, structure stability and carrying capacity. For overcoming these shortcomings, a new kind of wheel-legged robot（Rolling-Wolf） is designed. It is actuated by means of ball screws and sliders, and each leg forms two stable triangle structures at any moment, which is simple but has high structure stability. The positional posture model and statics model are built and used to analyze the kinematic and mechanical properties of Rolling-Wolf. Based on these two models, important indexes for evaluating its motion performance are analyzed. According to the models and indexes, all of the structure parameters which influence the motion performance of Rolling-Wolf are optimized by the method of Archive-based Micro Genetic Algorithm（AMGA） by using Isight and Matlab software. Compared to the initial values, the maximum rotation angle of the thigh is improved by 4.17%, the maximum lifting height of the wheel is improved by 65.53%, and the maximum driving forces of the thigh and calf are decreased by 25.5% and 12.58%, respectively. The conspicuous optimization results indicate that Rolling-Wolf is much more excellent. The novel wheel-leg structure of Rolling-Wolf is efficient in promoting the load distribution, structure stability and carrying capacity of wheel-legged robot and the proposed optimization method provides a new approach for structure optimization.

Dynamics and Wheel's Slip Ratio of a Wheel-legged Robot in Wheeled Motion Considering the Change of Height

The existing research on dynamics and slip ratio of wheeled mobile robot （WMR） are derived without considering the effect of height, and the existing models can not be used to analyze the dynamics performance of the robot with variable height while moving such as NOROS- Ⅱ. The existing method of dynamics modeling is improved by adding the constraint equation between perpendicular displacement of body and horizontal displacement of wheel into the constraint conditions. The dynamic model of NOROS- Ⅱ in wheel motion is built by the Lagrange method under nonholonomic constraints. The inverse dynamics is calculated in three different paths based on this model, and the results demonstrate that torques of hip pitching joints are inversely proportional to the height of robot. The relative error of calculated torques is less than 2% compared with that of ADAMS simulation, by which the validity of dynamic model is verified, Moreover, the relative horizontal motion between fore/hind wheels and body is produced when the height is changed, and thus the accurate slip ratio can not be obtained by the traditional equation. The improved slip ratio equations with the parameter of the vertical velocity of body are introduced for fore wheels and hind wheels respectively. Numerical simulations of slip ratios are conducted to reveal the effect of varied height on slip ratios of different wheels. The result shows that the slip ratios of fore/hind wheels become larger/smaller respectively as the height increases, and as the height is reduced, the reverse applies. The proposed research of dynamic model and slip ratio based on the robot height provides the effective method to analyze the dynamics of WMRs with varying height.

Development of Wheel-Legged Biped Robots:A Review

The wheel-legged biped robot is a typical ground-based mobile robot that can combine the high velocity and high efficiency pertaining to wheeled motion and the strong,obstacle-crossing performance associated with legged motion.These robots have gradually exhibited satisfactory application potential in various harsh scenarios such as rubble rescue,military operations,and wilderness exploration.Wheel-legged biped robots are divided into four categories according to the open–close chain structure forms and operation task modes,and the latest technology research status is summarized in this paper.The hardware control system,control method,and application are analyzed,and the dynamic balance control for the two-wheel,biomimetic jumping control for the legs and whole-body control for integrating the wheels and legs are analyzed.In summary,it is observed that the current research exhibits problems,such as the insufficient application of novel materials and a rigid–flexible coupling design;the limited application of the advanced,intelligent control methods;the inadequate understanding of the bionic jumping mechanisms in robot legs;and the insufficient coordination ability of the multi-modal motion,which do not exhibit practical application for the wheel-legged biped robots.Finally,this study discusses the key research directions and development trends for the wheel-legged biped robots.

Gait Analysis of a Radial Symmetrical Hexapod Robot Based on Parallel Mechanisms

Most gait studies of multi-legged robots in past neglected the dexterity of robot body and the relationship between stride length and body height.This paper investigates the performance of a radial symmetrical hexapod robot based on the dexterity of parallel mechanism.Assuming the constraints between the supporting feet and the ground with hinges,the supporting legs and the hexapod body are taken as a parallel mechanism,and each swing leg is regarded as a serial manipulator.The hexapod robot can be considered as a series of hybrid serial-parallel mechanisms while walking on the ground.Locomotion performance can be got by analyzing these equivalent mechanisms.The kinematics of the whole robotic system is established,and the influence of foothold position on the workspace of robot body is analyzed.A new method to calculate the stride length of multi-legged robots is proposed by analyzing the relationship between the workspaces of two adjacent equivalent parallel mechanisms in one gait cycle.Referring to service region and service sphere,weight service sphere and weight service region are put forward to evaluate the dexterity of robot body.The dexterity of single point in workspace and the dexterity distribution in vertical and horizontal projection plane are demonstrated.Simulation shows when the foothold offset goes up to 174 mm,the dexterity of robot body achieves its maximum value 0.164 4 in mixed gait.The proposed methods based on parallel mechanisms can be used to calculate the stride length and the dexterity of multi-legged robot,and provide new approach to determine the stride length,body height,footholds in gait planning of multi-legged robot.

Research on Biologically Inspired Hexapod Robot's Gait and Path Planning

Realistically there are many robot joints in the biologically inspired hexapod robot, so they will generate many complexities in the calculations of the gait and the path planning and the control variables. The software Solidworks and MSC. ADAMS are adopted to simulate and analyze the prototype model of the robot. By the simulations used in our design, the applicability of the tripod gait is validated, and the scheme which uses cubic spline curve as the endpoint of foot＇s path is feasible. The principles, methods, and processes of the simulation of hexapod robot are illustrated. A methodology is proposed to get the robot inverse solution in ADAMS, and to simplify the theoretical calculation, and further more to improve the efficiency of the design.

Leg compliance control of a hexapod robot based on improved adaptive control in different environments

Considering the compliance control problem of a hexapod robot under different environments, a control strategy based on the improved adaptive control algorithm is proposed. The model of robot structure and impedance control is established. Then, the indirect adaptive control algorithm is derived. Through the analysis of its parameters, it can be noticed that the algorithm does not meet the requirements of the robot compliance control in a complex environment. Therefore, the fuzzy control algorithm is used to adjust the adaptive control parameters. The satisfied system response can be obtained based on the adjustment in real time according to the error between input and output. Comparative experiments and analysis of traditional adaptive control and the improved adaptive control algorithm are presented. It can be verified that not only desired contact force can be reached quickly in different environments, but also smaller contact impact and sliding avoidance are guaranteed, which means that the control strategy has great significance to enhance the adaptability of the hexapod robot.

A gait planning method applied to hexapod biomimetic robot locomotion

In order to fulfill the goal of autonomous walking on rough terrain,a distributed gait planningmethod applied to hexapod biomimetic robot locomotion is proposed based on the research effort of gait co-ordination mechanism of stick insect.The mathematical relation of walking velocity and gait pattern wasdepicted,a set of local rules operating between adjacent legs were put forward,and a distributed networkof local rules for gait control was constructed.With the interaction of adjacent legs,adaptive adjustmentof phase sequence fluctuation of walking legs resulting from change of terrain conditions or variety of walk-ing speed was implemented to generate statically stable gait.In the simulation experiments,adaptive ad-justment of inter-leg phase sequence and smooth transition of velocity and gait pattern were realized,andstatic stableness was ensured simultaneously,which provided the hexapod robot with the capability ofwalking on rough terrain stably and expeditiously.

Biomimetic Experimental Research on Hexapod Robot's Locomotion Planning

To provide hexapod robots with strategies of locomotion planning, observation experiments were operated on a kind of ant with the use of high speed digital photography and computer assistant analysis. Through digitalization of original analog video, locomotion characters of ants were obtained, the biomimetic foundation was laid for polynomial trajectory planning of multi-legged robots, which was deduced with mathematics method. In addition, five rules were concluded, which apply to hexapod robots marching locomotion planning. The first one is the fundamental strategy of multi-legged robots＇ leg trajectory planning. The second one helps to enhance the static and dynamic stability of multi-legged robots. The third one can improve the validity and feasibility of legs＇ falling points. The last two give criterions of multi-legged robots＇ toe trajectory figures and practical recommendatory constraints. These five rules give a good method for marching locomotion planning of multi-legged robots, and can be expended to turning planning and any other special locomotion.

Research on Miniature Hexapod Bio-robot

This paper described the structure and control of a new kind of miniature hexap od bio-robot, analyzed the moving principle of the robot. The robot is based on the principle of bionics, its structure is simple, design novel, unique. It can mov e forwards and backwards. The external dimensions of bio-robot is: length 30 mm , width 40 mm, height 20 mm, weight 6.3 g. Some tests about the model robot were made. The experimental results show that the robot has good mobility.

The HITCR-I:Evaluation on a free gait generation method for the hexapod robot on irregular terrain

The purpose of this paper is to present and evaluate a method of free gait generation for HITCRI,a hexapod walking robot.The HITCR-I is designed as a modularized structure of legs that is based upon a four-bar linkage mechanism and with force sensors in the tip of legs,distributed hardware structure and a modular software structure of the control system.Based on a set of local rules between adjacent legs,finite state machine(FSM) model is built to control the coordination of legs.An automatic smooth transition of gait pattern is achieved through deriving the mathematical relation between gait pattern and locomotion parameters.The disordered inter-leg phase sequence is adjusted to a regular state smoothly and quickly by the local rules based FSM,and the gait pattern can transform automatically adapting to irregular terrain.The experiment on HITCR-I has demonstrated that it can walk through irregular terrain reliably and expeditiously with the free gait controller designed in this paper.

仿生六足折纸机器人结构设计与运动分析

针对现有折纸机器人组成结构单一,运动不够灵活的问题,将折纸结构与多足机器人设计相结合,耦合三浦折纸和六折痕折纸,提出新型的仿螃蟹六足折纸机器人设计方案,扩展了折纸机器人的运动构型,提升了折纸机器人的运动灵活性.在面对称假设下,该机器人单足具有2个自由度,此时将机器人腿部顶点等效为关节,轴线折痕等效为连杆,建立机器人腿部的平面连杆等效模型,并以折面夹角为运动变量,通过仿真计算得出机器人足端的理论运动范围.利用楔形面板技术对折面增厚并避免相邻折面发生物理干涉,建模得到折纸仿螃蟹六足机器人的三维模型.基于平面连杆的等效模型,分析折面夹角与足端运动之间的联系,设计确定机器人的足端运动轨迹与运动步态.利用3D打印技术设计并制作折纸仿生六足机器人试验样机,基于STM32单片机控制实现了机器人三横向角步态运动.结果表明,该折纸仿生机器人可以实现平面构型到仿螃蟹构型的转换,在6条腿的协同运动下,机器人可以平稳地左右横向移动.

金属矿山井下采场六足机器人运动分析及步态规划

六足机器人因其结构特殊带来的良好越障能力成为仿生机器人研究的热点,然而,金属矿山井下采场矿石堆积、崎岖不平的特点,给这类机器人的行走稳定性、越障性带来更多的挑战。因此,为使六足机器人在井下具有更好的通过性,对其运动能力和步态规划进行了相关研究。首先仿照自然界六足生物,设计六足机器人结构,对其腿部进行运动学分析;然后规划了用于采场的直行步态,结合采场路面环境设计了一种直线—摆线复合轨迹提升越障性,同时分析了机器人爬坡稳定性,对爬坡步态进行了优选;最后对规划步态进行仿真和现场模拟试验。仿真和试验结果表明,所规划的足端轨迹能跨越抬腿高度85%的障碍物,并且对矿石堆积形成的采场路面有更好的避障能力;三角步态爬坡时在坡底和坡顶过渡阶段容易打滑,而横向步态可以实现平滑的过渡,爬坡性能更佳。

基于DRL和自由步态的六足机器人运动规划研究

为提高六足机器人在非结构环境下的通过率和运动性能,提出一种基于DRL和自由步态规划器的多接触运动规划算法。自由步态规划器获取目标状态下可达落足点从而输出最优步态序列;利用DRL训练得到六足机器人在随机生成的梅花桩环境中的质心运动策略。为了保证机器人在运动过程中相邻状态之间的可达性,利用状态转移可行性模型对状态转移可行性进行判定,实现六足机器人在不同宽度沟壑梅花桩环境下的落脚点规划。仿真与样机实验表明:多接触运动规划算法能够让机器人快速平稳地从起点到达目标区域,并自动调整步态模式以应对不同环境下随机分布的梅花桩。

仿生六足机器人虚拟模型控制

论文针对仿生六足机器人运动问题,提出了一种基于虚拟模型控制(Virtual Model Control,VMC)的简单直观的运动控制方法。在VMC框架中,一系列虚拟原件安装在机器人关节上,以产生相应的虚拟力。将机器人腿的运动模式分为站立相和摆动相两个阶段。站立相中,VMC被用于控制机器人躯干姿态,包括躯干高度和欧拉角;摆动相中,VMC为摆动腿提供控制,使其遵循期望的轨迹。通过状态机实现机器人腿状态切换和运动配合。仿真结果表明,设计的控制器可以实现六足机器人三角步态稳定行走。

仿生六足机器人的运动分析及步态仿真

为了增强机器人在各种环境下的灵活性,设计了一种仿生六足机器人。利用Creo2.0软件设计仿生六足机器人的三维模型,并将三维模型导入ADAMS软件中建立仿真模型。通过ADAMS软件对仿生六足机器人进行直行步态仿真分析和转弯步态仿真分析,结果证实了仿生六足机器人的运动状态稳定,验证了仿生六足机器人的结构合理性和设计的正确性及有效性。同时,为实现仿生六足机器人的制作与开发提供了理论基础,也为实现仿生六足机器人的精确控制创造了条件。