Development of Quadruped Robot That Can Exploit Shoulder Hammock Structure

Abstract

Modern-day quadruped robots are designed to possess a symmetrical body and limbs, for good balance and modularity. On the other hand, animal morphology is sophisticated and has obtained heterogeneity along the cephalocaudal direction and high agility and locomotory capabilities. This study aims to understand the functionality of the cephalocaudal heterogeneous animal morphology and establish a design principle of hardware and control for the robot that can exploit this morphology for agile locomotion. In this study, we developed a quadruped robot focusing on different ways to achieve connectivity in the pectoral and pelvic girdles. The experiments show that a flexible shoulder joint allows the robot to redirect the motion of the body from down to up smoothly upon landing on the ground from an elevated place.