Non-Zoomorphic versus Zoomorphic Walking Machines and Robots: a Discussion

Abstract

Many experimental machines using legs to achieve a good mobility on very uneven ground were built and tested in the last decades. The advances in the fields of automatic controls and actuators lead to the idea that time was ripe for machines built following the configurations typical of the animal word to succeed. These machines would display the excellent mobility of living beings. This statement is critically discussed in the present work and simplified, not zoomorphic, configurations which can still be used with advantage are described.