A divide and conquer approach for obstacles surpassing of a legged robot

Abstract

Small obstacles are difficult to be detected and having their position precisely established from vision or other stereo obstacle detecting systems thus needing to be treated locally by the robot legs and foot. This work deals with the obstacle overcoming and curved walking capabilities of a four legged walking robot. Obstacle overcoming and avoidance is done using only information from contact sensors installed on the robot's feet. A divide and conquer approach was used to get over known obstacles. Obstacles considered are going a step up and down, going ramp up and down and overcoming a channel. Results include integrated movement sequence to go one step up in the floor. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.