High-speed running quadruped robot with a multi-joint spine adopting a 1DoF closed-loop linkage

Ojiro Matsumoto; Hiroaki Tanaka; Takumi Kawasetsu; Koh Hosoda

doi:10.3389/frobt.2023.1148816

High-speed running quadruped robot with a multi-joint spine adopting a 1DoF closed-loop linkage

Front Robot AI. 2023 Mar 24:10:1148816. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2023.1148816. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ojiro Matsumoto¹, Hiroaki Tanaka¹, Takumi Kawasetsu¹, Koh Hosoda¹

Affiliation

¹ Adaptive Robotics Laboratory, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Japan.

Abstract

Improving the mobility of robots is an important goal for many real-world applications and implementing an animal-like spine structure in a quadruped robot is a promising approach to achieving high-speed running. This paper proposes a feline-like multi-joint spine adopting a one-degree-of-freedom closed-loop linkage for a quadruped robot to realize high-speed running. We theoretically prove that the proposed spine structure can realize 1.5 times the horizontal range of foot motion compared to a spine structure with a single joint. Experimental results demonstrate that a robot with the proposed spine structure achieves 1.4 times the horizontal range of motion and 1.9 times the speed of a robot with a single-joint spine structure.

Keywords: bio-inspired; closed-loop linkage; high-speed running; pelvic motion; quadruped robot; quasi-quadruped robot; spine structure.

Grants and funding

This research was partly supported by Humanware Innovation Program, Osaka University and by JST, the establishment of university fellowships towards the creation of science technology innovation, Grant Number JPMJFS2125.