Motion having a Flight Phase: Experiments Involving a One-legged Robot

In the present paper, we introduce a new method by which to generate motions having flight phases such as jumping or running. Such motions are expected to expand the speed and stability of legged robots. Motions with flight phases are examined with respect to jumping, stability and implementation. A novel method of determining the center of mass (COM) and foot locations is proposed that is independent of the target robot actuators or assignments of joints. Moreover, the proposed method allows an on-line system to be built easily and is useful for actual robots. A one-legged jumping robot having a toe joint is built in order to demonstrate the feasibility of this method. Using the toe joint of the robot, the proposed method can reduce the angular velocities of the joints remarkably. Experiments are conducted to investigate the control of the direction, velocity and turning of the robot