Stability Margin Based Gait Design on Slopes for a Novel Reconfigurable Quadruped Robot with a Foldable Trunk

Abstract

Traditional quadruped robots typically have rigid and fixed trunk, which limit their mobility and flexibility. This paper introduces a novel quadruped robot with a reconfigurable trunk and presents an adaptive gait design on slope with maximum stability margin. The analysis of stability margin in multi-leg robots is significant for achieving smooth walking performance. By adjusting the trunk folding angle using the waist motor, the proposed gait enables the robot to achieve optimal stability margin during walking on slope. The strategy was thoroughly investigated and experimentally validated on slopes. The experimental results demonstrate that employing the designed gait, the robot’s stability margin during walking on a slope of 15<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">○</sup> is enhanced by 24.7% compared to the conventional walk gait. Furthermore, the robot can utilize the waist motor to transform between different biomimetic configurations, enhancing environmental adaptability and expanding its range of applications.