Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Trot Gait with Twisting Trunk of a Metamorphic Quadruped Robot

  • Published:
Journal of Bionic Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper proposes a metamorphic quadruped robot with a moveable trunk, called Origaker I. From the angle view of bionics, the robot can imitate the natural quadrupeds to twist its trunk. As we all know, most natural quadrupeds twist their trunk when running. The twisting trunk must bring significant benefits to their locomotion. Nevertheless there are few researches focusing on running gaits with twisting trunk of quadruped robots. Therefore, this paper investigates the trot gait with twisting trunk. One gait cycle of a lizard with twisting trunk is observed. Apart from the observation, the gait is designed based on the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) method and by considering three points related to the twisting trunk. A simulation and an experiment are carried out to verify the efficiency of the trot gait with twisting trunk. It is found that the twisting trunk helps the quadruped robot get larger stride length and further perform higher locomotion speed than that with rigid trunk.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gonzalez-de-Santos P, Garcia E, Estremera J. Quadrupedal Locomotion: An Introduction to the Control of Four-legged Robots, Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany, 2007.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Kolter J Z, Ng A Y. The stanford littledog: A learning and rapid replanning approach to quadruped locomotion. International Journal of Robotics Research, 2011, 30, 150–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Raibert M, Blankespoor K, Nelson G, Playter R. Bigdog, the rough-terrain quadruped robot. Proceedings of the 17th World Congress–The International Federation of Automatic Control, Seoul, Korea, 2008, 17, 10822–10825.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Boaventura T, Medrano-Cerda G A, Semini C, Buchli J, Caldwell D G. Stability and performance of the compliance controller of the quadruped robot HyQ. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Tokyo, Japan, 2013, 8215, 1458–1464.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kimura H, Fukuoka Y, Cohen A H. Adaptive dynamic walking of a quadruped robot on irregular terrain based on biological concepts. International Journal of Robotics Research, 2003, 22, 187–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. De Santos P G, Gálvez J A, Estremera J, Garcia E. SIL04: A true walking robot for the comparative study of walking machine techniques. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 2003, 10, 23–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bloss R. Robot walks on all four legs and carries a heavy load. Industrial Robot: An International Journal, 2012, 39, https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2012.04939eaa.005.

  8. Chen X, Gao F, Qi C, Tian X, Zhang J. Spring parameters design for the new hydraulic actuated quadruped robot. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 2014, 6, 021003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hyun D J, Seok S, Lee J, Kim S. High speed trot-running: Implementation of a hierarchical controller using proprioceptive impedance control on the MIT Cheetah. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 2014, 33, 1417–1445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhen W K, Kang X, Zhang X S, Dai J S. Gait planning of a novel metamorphic quadruped robot. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2016, 11, 26–33. (in Chinese)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhang C, Dai J S. Continuous static gait with twisting trunk of a metamorphic quadruped robot. Mechanical Sciences, 2018, 9, 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhang C, Wang X, Wang X, Dai J S. Modeling for a metamorphic quadruped robot with a twisting trunk: Kinematic and workspace. IECON 43rd Annual Conference on Industrial Electronics Society, Beijing, China, 2017, 6886–6892.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Yoneda K, Hirose S. Dynamic and static fusion gait of a quadruped walking vehicle on a winding path. Advanced Robotics, 1994, 9, 125–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Yoneda K, Iiyama H, Hirose S. Intermittent trot gait of a quadruped walking machine dynamic stability control of an omnidirectional walk. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1996, 4, 3002–3007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kurazume R, Byong-won A, Ohta K, Hasegawa T. Experimental study on energy efficiency for quadruped walking vehicles. Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2003, 1, 613–618.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Zhang J Q, Gao F, Han X L, Chen X B, Han X Y. Trot gait design and CPG method for a quadruped robot. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 2014, 11, 18–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Horio R, Uchiyama N, Sano S. Trot gait control of quadruped robot based on inclination of body. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, Bali, Indonesia, 2014, 2062–2067.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Spröwitz A, Tuleu A, Vespignani M, Ajallooeian M, Badri E, Ijspeert A J. Towards dynamic trot gait locomotion: Design, control, and experiments with Cheetah-cub, a compliant quadruped robot. International Journal of Robotics Research, 2013, 32, 932–950.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Muraro A, Chevallereau C, Aoustin Y. Optimal trajectories for a quadruped robot with Trot, Amble and Curvet gaits for two energetic criteria. Multibody System Dynamics, 2003, 9, 39–62.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Havoutis I, Semini C, Buchli J, Caldwell D G. Quadrupedal trotting with active compliance. IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics, Vicenza, Italy, 2013, 610–616.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Li M, Jiang Z, Wang P, Sun L, Ge S S. Control of a quadruped robot with bionic springy legs in trotting gait. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 2014, 11, 188–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bosworth W, Kim S, Hogan N. The effect of leg impedance on stability and efficiency in quadrupedal trotting. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2014, 4895–4900.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lei J, Wang F, Yu H, Wang T, Yuan P. Energy efficiency analysis of quadruped robot with trot gait and combined cycloid foot trajectory. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2014, 27, 138–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Gehring C, Bellicoso C D, Coros S, Bloesch M, Fankhauser P, Hutter M, Siegwart, R. Dynamic trotting on slopes for quadrupedal robots. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Hamburg, Germany, 2015, 5129–5135.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  25. Liu W, Zhou L, Qian H, Xu Y. Turning strategy analysis based on trot gait of a quadruped robot. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), 2017, 1306–1311.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Xin Y, Liu B, Rong X, Li B, Wang H. Research on smooth trot-to-walk gait transition algorithm for quadruped robot. IEEE Chinese Automation Congress (CAC), 2017, 5967–5971.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 51535008 and 51721003) and the Talent Scheme under Grant No. B16034.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Advanced Mechanisms and Robotics, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300345, China

    Chunsong Zhang & Jiansheng Dai

  2. Centre for Robotics Research, King’s College London, Strand, London, UK

    Jiansheng Dai

Authors
  1. Chunsong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jiansheng Dai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chunsong Zhang or Jiansheng Dai.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, C., Dai, J. Trot Gait with Twisting Trunk of a Metamorphic Quadruped Robot. J Bionic Eng 15, 971–981 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-018-0085-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-018-0085-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation