Towards a walking, turning, and jumping quadruped robot with compliant mechanisms

Abstract

In this paper, we present a small-sized quadruped robot by using compliant mechanisms to accomplish walking, turning, and jumping motions. The design of cable-driven legs with a tension spring on the knee joint can provide robust, stable, and energy efficient gaits for quadruped robots. The quadruped robot can produce a trot-like walking motion, based on the proposed foot trajectory, and the turning movement can be achieved by regulating the step length during the walking motion. Additionally, an energy storing mechanism is designed for the quadruped robot to be able to jump with different height and distance. The proposed system is validated via simulations and experiments to show the efficacy of the quadruped robot in walking, turning, and jumping motions.