In this study the feasibility of a dynamic gait for a given quadruped walking robot is investigated through a computer simulation of the walking with proper drivings of the motors. Two planar inverted pendulums are used to represent the dyanamic model of the walking robot. The gait motion is assumed to be periodic and symmetric.
Three dimensional model of the walking robot is simplified by introducing the virtual legs to produce two planar inverted pendulums in two orthogonal planes and neglecting the masses of the legs. Feasibility of the gait motion is estabished from the following three necessary conditions: 1) A kinematic condition that the position and velocity of the foot must satisfy the stroke and velocity requriments. 2) A dynamic condition that the walking robot should not fall down to the ground while the actuator forces be within the operating zones of motors. 3) A simplicity condition that all the kinematic parameters be periodic.
This simulation software was applied to a walking robot design showing the specific acceptable speed range of the robot in trot. In this case, higher body height required more fast gait. The result of the simulation is graphically displayed for visual inspection of the gait motion.
