Exploiting body dynamics for controlling a running quadruped robot

Exploiting the body dynamics to control the behavior of robots is one of the most challenging issues, because the use of body dynamics has a significant potential in order to enhance both complexity of the robot design and the speed of movement. In this paper, we explore the control strategy of rapid four-legged locomotion by exploiting the intrinsic body dynamics. Based on the fact that a simple model of four-legged robot is known to exhibit interesting locomotion behavior, this paper analyzes the characteristics of the dynamic locomotion for the purpose of the locomotion control. The results from a series of running experiments with a robot show that, by exploiting the unique characteristics induced by the body dynamics, the forward velocity can be controlled by using a very simple method, in which only one control parameter is required. Furthermore it is also shown that a few of such different control parameters exist, each of them can control the forward velocity. Interestingly, with these parameters, the robot exhibits qualitatively different behavior during the locomotion, which could lead to our comprehensive understanding toward the behavioral diversity of adaptive robotic systems