Navigation of a quadruped robot in uneven terrain with multiple foot sensors

In order to fully utilize legged mobile robots in practical applications, a variety of technologies must be significantly advanced including: motion control, leg motion planning, path planning from start to goal, and active foot placement sensing and selection. In an effort to further research in these areas, we have addressed the following issues: hierarchical robot control, map-based path generation that considers the robot´s mobility capabilities, development of multi-mode sensing for foot placement planning, and foot placement control that succeeds with minimal apriori terrain information