Follow-the-Contact-Point gait control of centipede-like multi-legged robot to navigate and walk on uneven terrain

This paper proposes a novel locomotion control scheme of centipede-like multi-legged robot, which is called Follow-the-Contact-Point (FCP) gait control. A centipede-like multi-legged robot is composed of segmented trunks which have a pair of legs and are connected with fore and/or rear ones by joints. This control scheme realizes locomotion control of multi-legged robot on uneven terrain with perfectly decentralized manner. The main concept of the control scheme is to relay the contact points from the fore leg to the rear leg. By creating contact points of the first legs adequately on the environment, the robot can climb over obstacles and be navigated successfully. Finally, the result of physical simulation of a 20-legged robot shows the availability of the proposed method.