Optimization of Standing Long Jump Strategy on a Small Quadruped Robot

Abstract

The extraordinary jumping ability of quadrupedal animals, is greatly attributed to appropriate jumping motion strategy with elastic element in legs. This paper introduces an optimization process of the robot jumping to a maximum horizontal distance from a static state, and verifies it on a small quadrupedal robot using elastic four-bar linkage mechanism. Two steps of optimization, with simplified stick models built to depict the dynamic characteristics of real robot, was set to search a best jump motion. Moreover, experiments of real robot validate the effectiveness of the mechanism and optimizing jumping method, while the robot could achieve a maximum horizontal jumping distance of 250 mm (78% of body length).