Characterization of Dynamic Behaviors in a Hexapod Robot

This paper investigates the relationship between energetic efficiency and the dynamical structure of a legged robot’s gait. We present an experimental data set collected from an untethered dynamic hexapod, EduBot [1] (a RHex-class [2] machine), operating in four distinct manually selected gaits. We study the robot’s single tripod stance dynamics of the robot which are identified by a purely jointspace-driven estimation method introduced in this paper. Our results establish a strong relationship between energetic efficiency (simultaneous reduction in power consumption and increase in speed) and the dynamical structure of an alternating tripod gait as measured by its fidelity to the SLIP mechanics—a dynamical pattern exhibiting characteristic exchanges of kinetic and spring-like potential energy [3]. We conclude that gaits that are dynamic in this manner give rise to better utilization of energy for the purposes of locomotion. This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under a FIBR Award 0425878. Yasemin Ozkan Aydin is supported by International Research Fellowship Programme of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). For more information: Kod*Lab Comments BibTeX entry INPROCEEDINGS{Komsuoglu-Majumdar-Aydin.ISER2010, author = {Komsuoglu, Haldun and Majumdar, Anirudha and Aydin, Yasemin Ozkan and Koditschek, Daniel E.}, keywords = {dynamical locomotion, efficiency, RHex, slip, specific resistance}, title = {Characterization of Dynamic Behaviors in a Hexapod Robot}, booktitle = {Proceedings of International Symposium on Experimental Robotics}, year = {2010}, note = {accepted}, } This conference paper is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/ese_papers/648 Characterization of Dynamic Behaviors in a Hexapod Robot Haldun Komsuoglu and Anirudha Majumdar and Yasemin Ozkan Aydin and Daniel E. Koditschek Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between energetic efficiency and the dynamical structure of a legged robot’s gait. We present an experimental data set collected from an untethered dynamic hexapod, EduBot [1] (a RHex-class [2] machine), operating in four distinct manually selected gaits. We study the robot’s single tripod stance dynamics of the robot which are identified by a purely jointspace-driven estimation method introduced in this paper. Our results establish a strong relationship between energetic efficiency (simultaneous reduction in power consumption and increase in speed) and the dynamical structure of an alternating tripod gait as measured by its fidelity to the SLIP mechanics—a dynamical pattern exhibiting characteristic exchanges of kinetic and spring-like potential energy [3]. We conclude that gaits that are dynamic in this manner give rise to better utilization of energy for the purposes of locomotion.This paper investigates the relationship between energetic efficiency and the dynamical structure of a legged robot’s gait. We present an experimental data set collected from an untethered dynamic hexapod, EduBot [1] (a RHex-class [2] machine), operating in four distinct manually selected gaits. We study the robot’s single tripod stance dynamics of the robot which are identified by a purely jointspace-driven estimation method introduced in this paper. Our results establish a strong relationship between energetic efficiency (simultaneous reduction in power consumption and increase in speed) and the dynamical structure of an alternating tripod gait as measured by its fidelity to the SLIP mechanics—a dynamical pattern exhibiting characteristic exchanges of kinetic and spring-like potential energy [3]. We conclude that gaits that are dynamic in this manner give rise to better utilization of energy for the purposes of locomotion.