Modelling and trajectory planning for a four legged walking robot with high payload

Abstract

This paper illustrates the development of a new four legged walking machine. The robot is characterized by a high payload capacity; the result has been achieved according to the specific design of its actuation system, integrating novel high precision actuators, and to its legs, composed by a new family of parallel mechanisms characterized by an appreciable dexterity. With respect to the common walking robot, the particular design of the hydraulic cylinders does not let neglect the weight of the legs in terms of static stability. Hence, a strategy to optimize the whole robot behaviour has been developed. More specifically, the modelling operation and the simulations performed to optimize some quasi-static tasks have been analysed. The optimization process employs a Global Search Algorithm that provides the best results in terms of Stable Margin. The same optimization procedure has been applied with success to investigate the robot walking gait. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.