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Efficient motion generation for a six-legged robot walking on irregular terrain via integrated foothold selection and optimization-based whole-body planning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2017

Yuan Tian Open the ORCID record for Yuan Tian [Opens in a new window]  and
Feng Gao
Yuan Tian
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240 Shanghai, P.R. China. E-mail: tianyuan_123abc@sjtu.edu.cn
Feng Gao*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240 Shanghai, P.R. China. E-mail: tianyuan_123abc@sjtu.edu.cn
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: gaofengsjtu@gmail.com
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Summary

In this paper, an efficient motion planning method is proposed for a six-legged robot walking on irregular terrain. The method provides the robot with fast-generated free-gait motions to traverse the terrain with medium irregularities. We first of all introduce our six-legged robot with legs in parallel mechanism. After that, we decompose the motion planning problem into two main steps: first is the foothold selection based on a local footstep cost map, in which both terrain features and the robot mobility are considered; second is a whole-body configuration planner which casts the problem into a general convex optimization problem. Such decomposition reduces the complexity of the motion planning problem. Along with the two-step planner, discussions are also given in terms of the robot-environmental relationship, convexity of constraints and robot rotation integration. Both simulations and experiments are carried out on typical irregular terrains. The results demonstrate effectiveness of the planning method.

Keywords

six-legged robotmotion planningfoothold selectionoptimization

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Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , March 2018 , pp. 333 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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