A survey of dynamic robot legged locomotion

Robotics research is motivated by the desire to develop tools or machines to accomplish tasks in place of humans or undertake tough activities which cannot be done by human labour. In order to design advanced robots, one approach is the learn from mechanical structures and locomotion mechanisms of animals in the natural world. This survey focuses on legged dynamic locomotion of robots which are mammal-like and mammal sized. The paper shows that there are many different paradigms and platforms used for walking, running and hopping robot research. In order to present a general view of the dynamic locomotion of legged robots, the paper starts with introducing a brief history of this research area. Then balancing issues for robots which are walking or running are discussed. To help address the limitations of previous research, the last part will identify the concept of ‘agile running’. Agile running involves developing control techniques and algorithms to allow a running robot to recover from disturbances caused by rough, slippery, shifting or uncertain terrain and rapidly execute desired changes in the direction and stride length.