Dynamic Modeling, Stability and Energy Consumption Analysis of Turning Motion of Realistic Hexapod Walking Robots

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed dynamic modeling of a realistic hexapod walking robot during its turning motion over flat terrain. An energy consumption model is derived for generating statically stable wave-turning gaits by minimizing dissipated energy for the optimal feet forces distributions. Two approaches, such as minimization of norm of feet forces and minimization of norm of joint torques have been developed using least squared method. The performances of these approaches have been compared with one other for different values of duty factor. The effects of walking parameters, namely angular velocity, angular stroke and duty factors are studied on energy consumption and stability during turning motion. In order to minimize total energy consumption, the angular velocity should be as high as possible for a particular duty factor. A stability analysis based on normalized energy stability margin is performed for the turning motion of robot with four duty factors for different angular strokes.