Velocity workspace analysis for multi-legged walking robots

In this paper, the analysis of manipulability of multi-legged robotic systems under hard-foot-condition is made. Given bounds on the capabilities of joint actuators of each legs, the purpose of this study is to derive the bounds for body moving velocity achievable by the system. The velocity workspace of robot system is represented as a polytope which is derived from the joint velocity limits through Jacobian matrices of each robot. This concept of manipulability for multiple cooperating robots is transformed into moving velocity analysis of multi-legged walking robots through the so-called reaction velocity. To validate the proposed concept, application examples are presented including continuous walking gaits as well as several different stationary posture of legged walking robots