In this work we research the role of body dynamics in the complexity of kinematic patterns in a quadruped robot with compliant legs. Two gait patterns, lateral sequence walk and trot, along with leg length control patterns of different complexity were implemented in a modular, feed-forward locomotion controller. The controller was tested on a small, quadruped robot with compliant, segmented leg...

Abstract: For a real-time quadruped robot running control, there are many important objectives to consider. In this paper, the running control architecture based on global states, which describe the cyclic target motion, and central pattern is proposed. The main goal of the controller is how the robot can have robustness to an unpredictable environment with reducing calculation burden to genera...

We present a control architecture for fast quadruped locomotion over rough terrain. We approach the problem by decomposing it into many sub-systems, in which we apply state-of-the-art learning, planning, optimization, and control techniques to achieve robust, fast locomotion. Unique features of our control strategy include: (1) a system that learns optimal foothold choices from expert demonstra...

A robot functioning in an environment may exhibit various forms of behavior emerge from the interaction with its environment through sense, control and plan activities. Hence, this paper introduces a behaviour selection based navigation and obstacle avoidance algorithm with effective method for adapting robotic behavior according to the environment conditions and the navigated terrain. The deve...

1 Motivation We are motivated to build simple controllers for quadruped robots to locomote over unperceived moderately difficult rough terrain at moderately fast speeds. The presented approach here does not need force sensing at feet, and does not need information about the mass properties of the robot like inertia tensors, so it is apt for relatively cheap and lightweight robots. We explore ou...

The environment sensing through visual perception can be obtained by an efficient and reliable landmark modelling. This paper proposes a novel landmark modelling approach to the classification of both the predefined and novelty features in the robot environment. The approach integrates image descriptors for defined landmarks (natural and artificial) and novelty features being dynamically detect...

The Problem: This research derives from the evolution of the M4, a dog-like robot, to the M2-Macaco project, a primate-like mobile robot in joint development with the MIT Leg Lab. It consists of the development of a portable and flexible robotic brain/head which both fits a quadruped and a bipede automaton. Merging social competencies with navigation capabilities requires an architecture that i...