Implementation of CPG-based locomotion controller on Minimule Robot

Abstract

Creating effective locomotion for legged robots is a very challenging task especially in an unknown environment. Currently, most research works on locomotion control are focused on the trajectory based method. Here we are implementing a biologically inspired Central Pattern Generator(CPG) based controller for a quadruped Minimule robot. This local control system of quadruped animals is modelled through an artificial neural oscillator based structure. The robot was first modelled using MSC ADAMS and integrated with MATLAB for simulation. This paper deals with parameter modulation of the CPG network, the gait transition for the robot and environment adaptability through limit cycle stability. Various parameters for locomotion like frequency, velocity and gait can be obtained just by changing a single parameter, the duty factor. The CPG based Minimule robot can achieve both trot and walk gait by varying the phase relationship between the limbs and is stable due to the inherent property of CPG.