Control of a six-legged robot walking on abrupt terrain

Abstract

Legged robots are well suited to walk on difficult terrains at the expense of requiring complex control systems to walk even on flat surfaces. But simply walking on a flat surface is not worth using a legged robot. It should be assumed that walking on abrupt terrain is the typical situation for a legged robot. With this premise in mind, we have developed a robust controller for a six-legged robot that allows it to walk over difficult terrains in an autonomous way, with a limited use of sensory information (no vision is involved). This walk controller can be driven by an upper level which need not be concerned about the details of foot placement or leg movements, taking care only of high level aspects such as global speed and direction.