A study on the brachiation type of mobile robot (heuristic creation of driving input and control using CMAC)

Deals with a new type of dynamically moving mobile robot modeling a gibbon, namely a long armed ape, that moves branch to branch swinging its body like a pendulum. The manner of moving like a gibbon is called brachiation. The authors present the method to control the brachiation robot and show the results of simulation using a 2-link-model robot. The most difficult subject in this study is how to control it naturally, dynamically and with taking advantage of the gravity force. They introduce a heuristic approach to generate the driving forces by exercising motions to move by the robot itself, and show that the interpolation by CMAC (cerebellar model arithmetic computer) between the generated forces in some situations makes new forces suitable to inexperienced ones. They also show that the proposed control system using CMAC gives a natural and dynamical motion of the brachiation robot even under disturbances