Turning Gait Planning of a Quadruped Walking Robot with an Articulated Spine

We suggest a turning gait planning of a quadruped walking robot with an articulated spine. Robot developer has tried to implement a gait more similar to that of natural animals with high stability margin. Therefore, so many types of walking robot with reasonable gait have been developed. But there is a big difference with a natural animal walking motion. A key point is the fact that natural animals use their waist-oint(articulated spine) to walk. For example, a crocodile which has short legs relative to a long body uses their waist to walk more quickly and to turn more effectively. The other animals such as tiger, dog and so forth, also use their waist. Therefore, this paper proposes discontinuous turning gait planning for a newly modeled quadruped walking robot with an articulated spine which connects the front and rear parts of the body. Turning gait is very important as same as straight gait. All animals need a turning gait to avoid obstacle or to change walking direction. Turning gait has mainly two types of gaits; circular gait and spinning gait. We apply articulated spine to above two gaits, which shows the majority of an articulated spine more effectively. Firstly, we describe a kinematic relation of a waist-joint, the hip, and the center of gravity of body, and then apply a spinning gait. Next, we apply a waist-joint to a circular gait. We compare a gait stability margin with that of a conventional single rigid body walking robot. Finally, we show the validity of a proposed gait with simulation.