Jump control of a robot with a redundant musculoskeletal system including biarticular muscles

Abstract

Understanding the functions of a coordinated drive of biarticular and monoarticular muscles in locomotion is fundamental to establishing a control strategy of a musculoskeletal robot. However, our current understanding is inadequate due to the complexity of the musculoskeletal structure. To tackle this issue, in this study, we developed a monopod robot with a musculoskeletal system including three biarticular muscles. We investigated the relationship between the height of a jump and the drive timing of two muscles: the gastrocnemius and soleus. As a result, we found that the relationship of the drive timing determined the height of a jump. We found that driving the gastrocnemius muscle earlier than the soleus muscle improved the jump height compared to the case where it was not. We also confirmed that the robot could jump three times consecutively with the parameters achieving the highest jump in this study.