Coupled oscillations in a platform with four springy legs and local feedback

Abstract

Based on the modeling of animal central pattern generators by networks of coupled oscillators, approaches for four-legged robot control are considered. As a first step, the effect of a simple local feedback at each of four springy legs on a platform is examined. Using classical averaging, it is shown that stable oscillations occur which correspond to four-legged animal gaits. In addition, numerical experiments demonstrate the feasibility of further augmenting the local controllers with a coupled oscillator controller to perform gait transitions.