Inter-limb and intra-limb coordination control of quadruped robots

To realize the coordinated and stable rhythmic motion of quadruped robots （QRs）, the locomotion control method of QRs based on central pattern generator （CPG） was explored. In tradi- tional control strategies based on CPG, few CPG models care about the intra-limb coordination of QRs, and the durations of stance phase and swing phase are always equal. In view of these deficien- cies, a new and simpler multi-joint coordinated control method for both inter-limb and intra-limb was proposed in this paper. A layered CPG control network to realize the locomotion control of QRs was constructed by using modified Hopf oscillators. The coupled relationships among hip joints of all limbs and between hip joint and knee joint within a limb were established. Using the co-simulation method of ADAMS and MATLAB/Simulink, various gait simulation experiments were carried out and the effectiveness of the designed control network was tested. Simulation results show that the pro- posed control method is effective for QRs and can meet the control requirements of QRs＇ gaits with different duty factors.

Mechanical design and locomotion control of a homogenous lattice modular self-reconfigurable robot

In this paper, we propose a novel, 3D, like cubic shape, modular self-reconfigurable (MSR) robot named M-Cubes. Its key mechanical components are analyzed in detail. By communicating with the neighboring modules, each unit employs its automatic lock device composed of a pin and a hole on each connection plane which can connect or disconnect with neighboring modules. The M-Cubes system consisting of many identical modules cooperates to change their connection, and then the whole structure transforms into arbitrary structure. Furthermore, we describe its locomotion control based on the driving function and the adjacency matrix which is effective for solving the computationally difficult problem and optimizing the system motion path during the self-reconfiguration process. Finally, a simulation experiment using java 3D technology, proved the new method for controlling modular robot is robust and useful.

Simulation study on the influence of longitudinal dynamic force on extreme-long heavy-haul trains

Purpose–The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of longitudinal forces on extreme-long heavy-haul trains,providing new insights and methods for their design and operation,thereby enhancing safety,operational efficiency and track system design.Design/methodology/approach–A longitudinal dynamics simulation model of the super long heavy haul train was established and verified by the braking test data of 30,000 t heavy-haul combination train on the long and steep down grade of Daqing Line.The simulation model was used to analyze the influence of factors on the longitudinal force of super long heavy haul train.Findings–Under normal conditions,the formation length of extreme-long heavy-haul combined train has a small effect on the maximum longitudinal coupler force under full service braking and emergency braking on the straight line.The slope difference of the long and steep down grade has a great impact on the maximum longitudinal coupler force of the extreme-long heavy-haul trains.Under the condition that the longitudinal force does not exceed the safety limit of 2,250 kN under full service braking at the speed of 60 km/h the maximum allowable slope difference of long and steep down grade for 40,000 t super long heavy-haul combined trains is 13‰,and that of 100,000 t is only 5‰.Originality/value–The results will provide important theoretical basis and practical guidance for further improving the transportation efficiency and safety of extreme-long heavy-haul trains.

Research on bionic quadruped robot based on hydraulic driver

A prototype of hydraulically powered quadruped robot is presented. The aim of the research is to develop a versatile robot platform which could travel fleetly in outdoor terrain with long time of en- durance and high load carrying ability. The current version is 1. lm long and 0.48m wide, and weights about 150kg. Each leg has four rotational joints driven by hydraulic cylinders and one pas- sive translational joint with spring. The torso carries the control system and the power system. A no- vel control algorithm is developed based on a Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum model and the prin- ciple of joint function separation. The robot can not only cross a 150mm high obstacle in static gait and trot at 2.5km/h and l km/h on the level-ground and 10°sloped-terrain respectively, but also au- tomatically keep balanced under lateral disturbance. In this paper, the mechanical structure and control systems are also discussed. Simulations and experiments are carried out to validate the design and algorithms.

Control of a Quadruped Robot with Bionic Springy Legs in Trotting Gait

Legged robots have better performance on discontinuous terrain than that of wheeled robots. However, the dynamic trotting and balance control of a quadruped robot is still a challenging problem, especially when the robot has multi-joint legs. This paper presents a three-dimensional model of a quadruped robot which has 6 Degrees of Freedom （DOF） on torso and 5 DOF on each leg. On the basis of the Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum （SLIP） model, body control algorithm is discussed in the first place to figure out how legs work in 3D trotting. Then, motivated by the principle of joint function separation and introducing certain biological characteristics, two joint coordination approaches are developed to produce the trot and provide balance. The robot reaches the highest speed of 2.0 m.s-1, and keeps balance under 250 Kg.m.s-1 lateral disturbance in the simulations. The effectiveness of these approaches is also verified on a prototype robot which runs to 0.83 m.s-1 on the treadmill, The simulations and experiments show that legged robots have good biological properties, such as the ground reaction force, and spring-like leg behavior.

Survey of locomotion control of legged robots inspired by biological concept

Compared with wheeled mobile robots, legged robots can easily step over obstacles and walk through rugged ground. They have more flexible bodies and therefore, can deal with complex environment. Nevertheless, some other issues make the locomotion control of legged robots a much complicated task, such as the redundant degree of freedoms and balance keeping. From literatures, locomotion control has been solved mainly based on programming mechanism. To use this method, walking trajectories for each leg and the gaits have to be designed, and the adaptability to an unknown environment cannot be guaranteed. From another aspect, studying and simulating animals＇ walking mechanism for engineering application is an efficient way to break the bottleneck of locomotion control for legged robots. This has attracted more and more attentions. Inspired by central pattern generator （CPG）, a control method has been proved to be a successful attempt within this scope. In this paper, we will review the biological mechanism, the existence evidences, and the network properties of CPG. From the en- gineering perspective, we will introduce the engineering simulation of CPG, the property analysis, and the research progress of CPG inspired control method in locomotion control of legged robots. Then, in our research, we will further discuss on existing problems, hot issues, and future research directions in this field.

Gaits-transferable CPG controller for a snake-like robot

With slim and legless body, particular ball articulation, and rhythmic locomotion, a nature snake adapted itself to many terrains under the control of a neuron system. Based on analyzing the locomotion mechanism, the main functional features of the motor system in snakes are specified in detail. Furthermore, a bidirectional cyclic inhibitory （BCl） CPG model is applied for the first time to imitate the pattern generation for the locomotion control of the snake-like robot, and its characteristics are discussed, particularly for the generation of three kinds of rhythmic locomotion. Moreover, we introduce the neuron network organized by the BCI-CPGs connected in line with unilateral excitation to switch automatically locomotion pattern of a snake-like robot under different commands from the higher level control neuron and present a necessary condition for the CPG neuron network to sustain a rhythmic output. The validity for the generation of different kinds of rhythmic locomotion modes by the CPG network are verified by the dynamic simulations and experiments. This research provided a new method to model the generation mechanism of the rhythmic pattern of the snake.

A survey of the development of quadruped robots: Joint configuration, dynamic locomotion control method and mobile manipulation approach

Some quadruped robots developed recently show better dynamic performance and environmental adaptability than ever, and have been preliminarily applied in the field of emergency disposal, military reconnaissance and infrastructure construction. The development route, mechanisms design, control methods and mobile manipulating approaches of the quadruped robots are surveyed in this article. Firstly, the development route of the quadruped robot is combed, as the references of the forecast of the future work on quadruped robots. Then the bionic structure and the motion control method of the quadruped robot is summarized, the advantages and disadvantages are analyzed in aspects of gait switching, terrain adaption and disturbance resistance. Subsequently, aiming at the mobile manipulation of the quadruped robot, the representative leg-arm collaborative robots and the multi-task-oriented Whole-body Control (WBC) methods are introduced. Finally, the summary and future work of the quadruped robots is given.

Development of Minimalist Bipedal Walking Robot with Flexible Ankle and Split-mass Balancing Systems

This paper presents a novel design of minimalist bipedal walking robot with flexible ankle and split-mass balancing systems.The proposed approach implements a novel strategy to achieve stable bipedal walk by decoupling the walking motion control from the sideway balancing control.This strategy allows the walking controller to execute the walking task independently while the sideway balancing controller continuously maintains the balance of the robot.The hip-mass carry approach and selected stages of walk implemented in the control strategy can minimize the efect of major hip mass of the robot on the stability of its walk.In addition,the developed smooth joint trajectory planning eliminates the impacts of feet during the landing.In this paper,the new design of mechanism for locomotion systems and balancing systems are introduced.An additional degree of freedom introduced at the ankle joint increases the sensitivity of the system and response time to the sideway disturbances.The efectiveness of the proposed strategy is experimentally tested on a bipedal robot prototype.The experimental results provide evidence that the proposed strategy is feasible and advantageous.

Chaotic CPG Based Locomotion Control for Modular Self-reconfigurable Robot

The most important feature of Modular Self-reconfigurable Robot （MSRR） is the adaption to complex environments and changeable tasks. A critical difficulty is that the operator should regulate a large number of control parameters of modules. In this paper, a novel locomotion control model based on chaotic Central Pattern Generator （CPG） is proposed. The chaotic CPG could produce various rhythm signals or chaotic signal only by changing one parameter. Utilizing this characteristic, a unified control model capable of switching variable locomotion patterns or generating chaotic motion for modular self-reconfigurable robot is presented. This model makes MSRR exhibit environmental adaptability. The efficiency of the control model is verified through simulation and experiment of UBot MSRR platform.

Footholds optimization for legged robots walking on complex terrain

This paper proposes a novel continuous footholds optimization method for legged robots to expand their walking ability on complex terrains.The algorithm can efficiently run onboard and online by using terrain perception information to protect the robot against slipping or tripping on the edge of obstacles,and to improve its stability and safety when walking on complex terrain.By relying on the depth camera installed on the robot and obtaining the terrain heightmap,the algorithm converts the discrete grid heightmap into a continuous costmap.Then,it constructs an optimization function combined with the robot’s state information to select the next footholds and generate the motion trajectory to control the robot’s locomotion.Compared with most existing footholds selection algorithms that rely on discrete enumeration search,as far as we know,the proposed algorithm is the first to use a continuous optimization method.We successfully implemented the algorithm on a hexapod robot,and verified its feasibility in a walking experiment on a complex terrain.

Kinematic Comparison of Forward and Backward Swimming and Maneuvering in a Self-Propelled Sub-Carangiform Robotic Fish

We make a thorough kinematic comparison of forward and backward swimming and maneuvering on a self-propelled robot platform that uses sub-carangifbrm swimming as the primary propulsor. An improved Central Pattern Generator （CPG） model allowing free adjustment of phase relationship and directional bias is employed to achieve flexible swimming and smooth transition. Considering the characteristics of forward swimming in carangiform fish and backward swimming in anguilliform fish, various backward swimming patterns for the sub-carangiform robotic fish are suitably created by reversing the direction of propagating propulsive waves. Through a combined use of the CPG control and closed-loop swimming direction control strategy, flexible and precise turning maneuvers in both forward and backward swimming are implemented and compared. By contrast with forward swimming, backward swimming requires a higher frequency or an increased lateral displacement to reach the same relative swimming speed. Noticeably, the phase difference shows a greater impact on forward swimming than on backward swimming. Our observations also indicate that the robotic fish achieves a larger turning rate in forward maneuvering than in backward maneuvering, yet these two maneuvers display comparable turning precision.

Kinematics Analysis and Experiment of a Cockroach-Like Robot

This article describes the structure of the cockroach-like robot.Both kinematics and locomotion control are inspired by biological observations in cockroaches.Based on cockroach-like robot kinematics analysis,screw theory,and the production-of-exponential (POE) formula,this paper focuses on the inverse kinematics which uses Paden-Kahan sub-problems to obtain directly the displacement of joint angles.The forward kinematics derives the relationship between joint angles according to the natural restrictions.Then,by using the POE formula,it can deduce the body pose and realize online trajectory control and planning.Through simulation and experimentation,it is proved that the straight-line walking and turning gait algorithms have static stability and the inverse kinematics analysis of cockroach-like robot is correct.

Untethered quadrupedal hopping and bounding on a trampoline

For quadruped robots with springy legs,a successful jump usually requires both suitable elastic parts and well-designed control algorithms.However,these two problems are mutually restricted and hard to solve at the same time.In this study,we attempt to solve the problem of controller design with the help of a robot without any elastic mounted parts,in which the untethered robot is made to jump on a trampoline.The differences between jumping on hard surfaces with springy legs and jumping on springy surfaces with rigid legs are briefly discussed.An intuitive control law is proposed to balance foot contact forces;in this manner,excessive pitch oscillation during hopping or bounding can be avoided.Hopping height is controlled by tuning the time delay of the leg stretch.Together with other motion generators based on kinematic law,the robot can perform translational and rotational movements while hopping or bounding on the trampoline.Experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control framework.

Towards Jumping Skill Learning by Target-guided Policy Optimization for Quadruped Robots

Endowing quadruped robots with the skill to forward jump is conducive to making it overcome barriers and pass through complex terrains.In this paper,a model-free control architecture with target-guided policy optimization and deep reinforcement learn-ing(DRL)for quadruped robot jumping is presented.First,the jumping phase is divided into take-off and flight-landing phases,and op-timal strategies with soft actor-critic(SAC)are constructed for the two phases respectively.Second,policy learning including expecta-tions,penalties in the overall jumping process,and extrinsic excitations is designed.Corresponding policies and constraints are all provided for successful take-off,excellent flight attitude and stable standing after landing.In order to avoid low efficiency of random ex-ploration,a curiosity module is introduced as extrinsic rewards to solve this problem.Additionally,the target-guided module encour-ages the robot explore closer and closer to desired jumping target.Simulation results indicate that the quadruped robot can realize com-pleted forward jumping locomotion with good horizontal and vertical distances,as well as excellent motion attitudes.