Hydraulic running robots: The prospects for fluid power in agile locomotion

摘要

The majority of the Earth’s land mass is inaccessible to wheeled vehicles. Legged locomotion is a potential solution to this problem, allowing mobile machines to traverse rough terrain and step over obstacles. Many hundreds of walking machines are in existence, albeit mostly in research laboratories rather than in productive employment. Walking machines are generally slow, and unable to respond sufficiently quickly to external disturbances and foot slippage. Thus machines with a dynamic capability, i.e. with sensing, actuation and control systems which enable operation outside the constraints of static balance, are likely to be much more useful. This paper briefly reviews the history of legged locomotion, focusing on the development of dynamic (running) robots and their associated control algorithms. To deliver sufficient power to many independently controlled actuators, whilst minimising weight and size, hydraulic actuation has normally been chosen for running robots. Comments are included in the paper about power consumption, and the challenge for fluid power researchers to propose more efficient solutions which are still suitable given the constraints (particularly weight) associated with this application.