Time optimal control for quadruped walking robots

Abstract

Time optimal control method for quadruped walking robots are developed and installed into a practical robot system. Each leg is modeled as a two link manipulator whose time optimal control theory has already been established by Bobrow. However, in legged robot systems, each leg supports their body weight, and the reaction forces from its ground must be inside of their friction corn. Moreover, the ZMP (zero moment point) of the robot is constrained for stable walk. Therefore, time optimal control inputs must be designed considering these constraints. SONY ERS-7 is used as a quadruped walking robot and a fundamental experiment is done. From the experimental results, the effectiveness of the developed control algorithm is verified