Hugging walk

Abstract

Discusses a hugging walk where multiple contacts are allowed between each leg and environment during locomotion. Since an external force can be supported by multiple contact points, legged robots in this style can be expected to be even more robust against a disturbance (including gravitational force) than those in conventional gaits based on foot contact. The alternative two-legs-support gait which never exists for conventional gaits based on static balance is introduced. Two indices for stable locomotion are introduced. Experiments are also shown to confirm the basic motion of the proposed gait.