A CPG-based control method for the rolling locomotion of a desert spider

Abstract

Desert spiders use rolling locomotion when escaping. According to this characteristic, a Central Pattern Generator (CPG) model based on Hopf nonlinear oscillators was proposed to control a spider robot's rolling locomotion. The spider robot was a spatial double-close-loop linkage structure driven by 6 motors. The position of each motor was controlled by Hopf oscillator coupled together. The dynamic simulations of the spider robot's rolling locomotion were conducted using Matlab Simulink and Adams. The robot achieved smooth and continuous rolling locomotion successfully. The biologically-inspired CPG control approach was validated for the closed-chain robot.