Abstract
Walking robots are well known for being able to walk over rough terrain and adapt to various environments. Hexapod robots are chosen because of their better stability and higher number of different gaits. However, having to hold the whole weight of the body and a large number of actuators makes all walking robots less energetically efficient than wheeled machines. Special methods for energy consumption optimization must be found. In this paper, hexapod robot energy consumption dependence on body elevation and step height is presented. Three main hexapod gaits are used: tripod, tetrapod and wave. Experimental results show that energy consumption does not depend on body elevation or gait. Although, higher steps increases the power consumption. Therefore, when walking over even terrain, lower step heights along with higher body elevation must be selected for tripod or tetrapod gait in order to surpass ground irregularities but still maintain maximum energetic efficiency. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eee.20.7.8017
Highlights
Legged robots, compared with wheeled or tracked robots, have much superior movement characteristics due to greater ability to adapt to rough terrain [1]
In this work we present experimental analyses of hexapod robot’s energy consumption dependence on robot body’s elevation and step height
The difference is uncanny, the horse has four limbs and our robot has six, experimental results clearly indicated that when optimizing energy consumption of a hexapod robot, gait selection must be taken into account when speed rate gets higher
Summary
Legged robots, compared with wheeled or tracked robots, have much superior movement characteristics (higher ground clearance etc.) due to greater ability to adapt to rough terrain [1]. Unlike tripod gait which is the fastest, and very unstable, wave gait is the most energetically efficient and the most stable choice Another way to minimize power consumption is by observing animals in nature and applying same movement methods for robots. Results showed that changing gaits according to movement speed is very efficient [2] This is due to energy consumption decrease when animal starts using inertia as a helping force, instead of trying to compensate it. When walking over rough terrain robot’s body elevation and step height must be controlled in order to maintain stable and smooth locomotion. This suggests that these parameters may directly influence robot’s energy consumption. Each leg consists of three actuators, making the total of eighteen and concluding the majority of the robots weight
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