Design and Experimental Analysis of Legged Locomotive Robots by Timothy

In this thesis, I present the design and motion-capture analysis of two previously well-studied dynamic-walking machines, the rimless wheel and the compass gait robot. These robots were the basis for my undergraduate research at the Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The rimless wheel is a real-world physical realization built to compare to a long-analyzed model, the simplest example of passive dynamic walking. Despite the seemingly deterministic model, undeniable experimental evidence for unpredictable stochasitic behavior is observed. The compass gait is the second iteration of a previous design by Dr. Fumiya Iida in my laboratory. Both machines are among the most fundamental walking models, and are important for developing energy-efficient dynamic walkers. Thesis Supervisor: Russell L. Tedrake Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Approved by: John Lienhard V Collins Professor of Mechanical Engineering Chair, Undergraduate Thesis Committee Acknowledgments I'd like to thank Russ Tedrake of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. As a mechanical engineering undergraduate, much of his work in control theory and locomotion exceeded my mental latitudes in my time spent working in his laboratory. Though much of his work still lies beyond my analytical reach, I've gained valuable design experience and learned of the amazing robots that can be created by applying online learning and simple mechanical control to legged locomotion. Thrishantha Nanayakkara of Harvard University provided guidance and support through his one-on-one assistance developing the numerical analysis employed for data analysis and his part in developing the analytic models for the rimless wheel. His MATLAB knowledge proved invaluable. I'd like to thank Rick Cory for his expertise in developing the motion-capture program models, and John W. Roberts for his assistance with the high-speed video hardware and software. Thanks also to Stephen Proulx and Fumiya lida for providing helpful insight and ideas for the construction of both the rimless wheel and compass gait.