Vertical motion control of a hopping robot

Abstract

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 Poincare map, which simplifies the subsequent analysis, but can be difficult or impossible to obtain analytically. The method can also be applied to more complicated, possibly nonlinear models of legged robots, as well as other variable structure systems.