Hexapod
Related papers: 20
About
A hexapod is a six-legged robotic platform designed to locomote across surfaces using coordinated leg movements, drawing significant inspiration from biological insects such as stick insects and cockroaches. With six legs, the robot can maintain stable tripod support groups — three legs on the ground at any time — while the remaining three swing forward, enabling robust and statically stable walking even over highly uneven or obstacle-laden terrain. In robotics and AI, hexapods serve as platforms for studying gait control, terrain adaptation, bio-inspired locomotion algorithms, and sensor fusion, with systems like RHex, iSprawl, and DASH demonstrating speeds, climbing capabilities, and autonomy across diverse environments. Researchers use hexapods to develop and validate controllers ranging from simple open-loop central pattern generators to sophisticated neural-network-based approaches and optimization-based methods. They matter because six-legged configurations offer inherent mechanical redundancy — losing one leg rarely causes failure — superior terrain negotiation compared to wheeled robots, and rich biological analogs that accelerate our understanding of legged locomotion principles applicable across all robot morphologies.
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RHex: A Simple and Highly Mobile Hexapod Robot
Uluc̣ Saranlı, M. Buehler, Daniel E. Koditschek
Citations: 1312 • 2001
RHex: A Biologically Inspired Hexapod Runner
Richard Altendorfer, N. Moore, M. Buehler, H.B. Brown, D. McMordie, Uluc̣ Saranlı, Robert J. Full, Daniel E. Koditschek
Citations: 408 • 2001
On the Improvement of Multi-Legged Locomotion over Difficult Terrains Using a Balance Stabilization Method
Umar Asif, Javaid Iqbal
Citations: 377 • 2012
iSprawl: Design and Tuning for High-speed Autonomous Open-loop Running
Sangbae Kim, Jonathan E. Clark, Mark R. Cutkosky
Citations: 281 • 2006
DASH: A dynamic 16g hexapedal robot
Paul Birkmeyer, Kevin Peterson, Ronald S. Fearing
Citations: 276 • 2009
Optimization‐based Full Body Control for the DARPA Robotics Challenge
Siyuan Feng, Eric Whitman, X Xinjilefu, Christopher G. Atkeson
Citations: 229 • 2015
Control of Force Distribution in Robotic Mechanisms Containing Closed Kinematic Chains
David E. Orin, Se Young Oh
Citations: 220 • 1981
Printable hydraulics: A method for fabricating robots by 3D co-printing solids and liquids
Robert MacCurdy, Robert K. Katzschmann, Youbin Kim, Daniela Rus
Citations: 214 • 2016
Biologically based distributed control and local reflexes improve rough terrain locomotion in a hexapod robot
Kenneth S. Espenschied, Roger D. Quinn, Randall D. Beer, Hillel J. Chiel
Citations: 213 • 1996
RoACH: An autonomous 2.4g crawling hexapod robot
Aaron M. Hoover, E. Steltz, Ronald S. Fearing
Citations: 209 • 2008
Stability and Traction Optimization of a Reconfigurable Wheel-Legged Robot
Christophe Grand, Faïz Benamar, Frédéric Plumet, Philippe Bidaud
Citations: 198 • 2004
Reliable stair climbing in the simple hexapod 'RHex'
Edward Z. Moore, Duncan Campbell, Felix Grimminger, M. Buehler
Citations: 189 • 2003
A six-legged climbing robot for high payloads
Juan C. Grieco, Manuel Prieto, Manuel Armada, P. González de Santos
Citations: 186 • 2002
On the Ability of a Cable-Driven Robot to Generate a Prescribed Set of Wrenches
Samuel Bouchard, Clément Gosselin, Brian Moore
Citations: 180 • 2009
Performance Analysis and Feedback Control of ATRIAS, A Three-Dimensional Bipedal Robot
Alireza Ramezani, Jonathan Hurst, Kaveh Akbari Hamed, J.W. Grizzle
Citations: 174 • 2013
Experimental Validation of a Framework for the Design of Controllers that Induce Stable Walking in Planar Bipeds
E. R. Westervelt, Gabriel Buche, Jessy W. Grizzle
Citations: 170 • 2004
Behaviour-based modelling of hexapod locomotion: linking biology and technical application
Volker Dürr, Josef Schmitz, Holk Cruse
Citations: 170 • 2004
Walknet, a bio-inspired controller for hexapod walking
Malte Schilling, Thierry Hoinville, Josef Schmitz, Holk Cruse
Citations: 168 • 2013
Machine that can walk and climb on floors, walls and ceilings
S. Hirose, Akihiko Nagakubo, Ryousei Toyama
Citations: 153 • 1991
Application of evolved locomotion controllers to a hexapod robot
John C. Gallagher, Randall D. Beer, Kenneth S. Espenschied, Roger D. Quinn
Citations: 152 • 1996