A Framework for Steering Dynamic Robotic Locomotion Systems J. P. Ostrowski and K. A . M clsaac

摘要

We seek to formulate control and motion planning algorithms for a class of dynamic robotic locomotion systems. We consider mechanical systems that involve some type of interaction with the environment and have dynamics that possess rotational and translational sym­ metries. Research in nonholonomic systems and geo­ metric mechanics has led to a single, simplified frame­ work that describes this class of systems, which includes examples such as wheeled mobile robots, bicycles, and the snakeboard robot; undulatory robotic and biologi­ cal locomotion systems, such as paramecia, inchworms, snakes, and eels; and the reorientation of satellites and underwater vehicles with attached robotic arms. We explore a hybrid systems approach in which small am­ plitude, periodic inputs, or gaits, are used to yield sim­ plified approximate motions. These motions are then treated as abstract control inputs for a simplified, kine­ matic representation of the locomotion system. We de­ scribe the application of such an approach as applied to two examples: the snakeboard robot and an eel-like, underwater robot.