Approach to 8-Legs cooperative control of spider-type robot with environment adaptation

Abstract

In order to realize universal 8-legged walking of just as creatural spiders and adapt to environments, this paper is concerned with cooperative walking control for a spider-type robot. At first, we examine how a spider walks on the floor to ascertain its gait. Second, a spider-type robot which is possible to walk by 8-legs is made experimentally. And using our trial robot, we perform walking experiments to check whether various walking types are possible. The walking types are forward, beck, diagonal, revolution and R-advance. Next, we observe whether a spider reacts well to the environment and then how a spider walks. A creatural spider responds to environmental information by adapting various walking forms, in cases of escaping from natural enemies or fear, wandering around for hunting game and so on. Finally, the mechanisms of these walking forms are examined and verified through simulation experiment. And, we discuss 8-legged cooperative control. The experiment uses various information such as fatigue, fear and distance. Moreover, fuzzy theory is used for controlling the walking velocity by expressing obscure environmental information.