We propose a locomotion technique for a legged robot that is high-centered, i.e., a robot stuck on a block with its legs dangling in air. By using its legs as reaction masses, the robot might be able to rock and roll on its stomach and incrementally move forward off the block, a form of legless locomotion using halteres. With locomotion of high-centered robots using body attitude oscillations a...

The aim of this paper is to investigate possibilities for controlling a four-legged walking robot (ALDURO) with a force feedback joystick. A way to filter motion induced errors out of the input data is shown, as well as ways to prevent them by using force feedback. Force feedback can also be used to supply the operator with information about the workspace of ALDURO. A linearised approximation o...

This paper describes the existence of one of the most useful mechanisms for robotic systems, coined the “variable constraint mechanism.” The variable constraint mechanism is a system that actively changes constraint conditions by itself, in response to the working purpose or the required motion sequence to acquire varied functionality. The paper discusses some of the generalized design principl...

In this paper we present a new approach for vertical motion feedback control of a hopping robot. The task of the feedback control is to stabilize the robotic system to a desired limit cycle under existing constraints on the controls. Unlike most previous methods, the approach presented here does not rely on the construction of the Poincar e map, which simpliies the subsequent analysis, but can ...

This paper presents the construction of a six-legged bio-mimicking robot. The mechanical design includes the actuation design based on shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators and the locomotive mechanism. The motion control system implements various gaits for the robot to maneuver. The sensors used in the control system include the accelerometer, the compass sensor and the step sensors. We develop a...

A controller is developed to balance a two-dimensional walking robot. The equations of motion for the robot, modelled as a double pendulum with pivots at the hip and contact foot, are derived, linearized, and arranged in statespace form. A Linear Quadratic Regulator is developed for the linearized model; its performance simulated using both the linearized and the complete, nonlinear dynamics. T...

The main purpose of this work was to design a prototype of an autonomous hexapod robot. This paper reports on an initial phase, where the basic geometry of the system was specified and improved through a kinematics and dynamic study, using a motion analysis software. This also allowed the design of all mechanical components and the definition of motion generation needs. In this paper the import...

A key methodology for the development of autonomous robots is testing using simulated robot motion and sensing systems. An important issue when simulating teams of heterogeneous autonomous robots is performance versus accuracy. In this paper the multi-robot-simulation framework (MuRoSimF) is presented which allows the flexible and transparent exchange and combination of the algorithms used for ...

This paper describes the Six-legged Integrated Locomotion and Manipulation Robot with an omni-directional walking mechanism and 4 d.o.f. manipulator. The walking mechanism consists of a parallel link mechanism connecting the two frames with three linear actuators, and this robot has six extendable legs and can move in any direction. The relative position and angle of the two frames are selected...

Coordinating complex motion sequences remains a challenging task for robotics. Machine Learning has aided this process, successfully improving motion sequences such as walking and grasping. However, to the best of our knowledge, outside of simulation, learning has never been applied to the task of kicking the ball. We apply machine learning methods to optimize kick power entirely on a real robo...