A biologically inspired four legged walking robot

Abstract

This Ph.D. thesis presents the design and implementation of a biologically inspired four-phase walking strategy using behaviours for a four legged walking robot. In particular, the walking strategy addresses the balance issue, including both static and dynamic balance that were triggered non-deterministically based on the robot's realtime interaction with the environment. Four parallel Subsumption Architectures (SA) and a simple Central Pattern Producer (CPP) are employed in the physical implementation of the walking strategy. An implementation framework for such a parallel Subsumption Architecture is also proposed to facilitate the reusability of the system. A Reinforcement Learning (RL) method was integrated into the CPP to allow the robot to learn the optimal walking cycle interval (OWCI), appropriate for the robot walking on various terrain conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the robot employs the proposed walking strategy and can successfully carry out its walking behaviours under various experimental terrain conditions, such as flat ground, incline, decline and uneven ground. Interactions of all the behaviours of the robot enable it to exhibit a combination of both preset and emergent walking behaviours.