Adaptive Wave Gait for Injured Hexapod Walking Machine.

Abstract

Autonomous walking machines are generally required in dangerous situation in which humankind cannot step. Thus, walking machines have to return to the base position by themselves, even if a leg is injured by some accidents. In such a case, hexapod walking machine has advantages, because it can keep walking by remained five legs. This paper proposes a new gait rule named injury-adaptive wave gait. The new gait is available for not only normal hexapod walking, but also injured hexapod walking. Additionally, to apply the new gait rule smoothly, we propose a new control strategy for leg motion control. The strategy uses a notion of distributed control to realize synchronized motion among six legs. By combination of the gait rule and the control strategy, walking machine can realize suitable gait for its walking condition.