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Efficient motion generation for a six-legged robot walking on irregular terrain via integrated foothold selection and optimization-based whole-body planning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2017

Yuan Tian
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240 Shanghai, P.R. China. E-mail: tianyuan_123abc@sjtu.edu.cn
Feng Gao*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240 Shanghai, P.R. China. E-mail: tianyuan_123abc@sjtu.edu.cn
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: gaofengsjtu@gmail.com

Summary

In this paper, an efficient motion planning method is proposed for a six-legged robot walking on irregular terrain. The method provides the robot with fast-generated free-gait motions to traverse the terrain with medium irregularities. We first of all introduce our six-legged robot with legs in parallel mechanism. After that, we decompose the motion planning problem into two main steps: first is the foothold selection based on a local footstep cost map, in which both terrain features and the robot mobility are considered; second is a whole-body configuration planner which casts the problem into a general convex optimization problem. Such decomposition reduces the complexity of the motion planning problem. Along with the two-step planner, discussions are also given in terms of the robot-environmental relationship, convexity of constraints and robot rotation integration. Both simulations and experiments are carried out on typical irregular terrains. The results demonstrate effectiveness of the planning method.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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