Cheetah-cub-S: Steering of a quadruped robot using trunk motion

A reliable concept for steering was realized by integrating a spine-like structure with one DoF into a quadruped robot - Cheetah-cub-S. We increased maneuverability dramatically compared to a robot with rigid spine, while keeping controlling effort low. The robot weights 1160 g at 0.1 m (height), 0.105 m (width) and 0.205 m (length). Based on qualitative tests, it is able to run 0.36 m/s and turn within a radius of 0.51 m (equivalent to 2.48 body lengths) at 0.31 m/s (equivalent to 34°/s). We could steer the quadruped around three objects in a 7.13 m (23 s @ 0.31 m/s) slalom within our test area. Due to its modularity, Cheetah-cub-S is a versatile mobile platform and components such as the spine segment, legs, motors or steering mechanism can be exchanged, leading to easier development of even higher performing robot-versions.