Motion capability analysis of a quadruped robot as a parallel manipulator

Abstract

This paper presents the forward and inverse displacement analysis of a quadruped robot MANA as a parallel manipulator in quadruple stance phase, which is used to obtain the workspace and control the motion of the body. The robot MANA designed on the basis of the structure of quadruped mammal is able to not only walk and turn in the uneven terrain, but also accomplish various manipulating tasks as a parallel manipulator in quadruple stance phase. The latter will be the focus of this paper, however. For this purpose, the leg kinematics is primarily analyzed, which lays the foundation on the gait planning in terms of locomotion and body kinematics analysis as a parallel manipulator. When all four feet of the robot contact on the ground, by assuming there is no slipping at the feet, each contacting point is treated as a passive spherical joint and the kinematic model of parallel manipulator is established. The method for choosing six non-redundant actuated joints for the parallel manipulator from all twelve optional joints is elaborated. The inverse and forward displacement analysis of the parallel manipulator is carried out using the method of coordinate transformation. Finally, based on the inverse and forward kinematic model, two issues on obtaining the reachable workspace of parallel manipulator and planning the motion of the body are implemented and verified by ADAMS simulation.

Key words： quadruped robot; actuated joints selection; kinematics analysis; motion planning; parallel manipulator

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the NSFC (Grant Nos. 51175011, 51175010 and 51275552).

References

1 Li Y, Li B, Ruan J, et al. Research of mammal bionic quadruped robots: A review. In: Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics (RAM). Qingdao, 2011, 166–171

2 Rutishauser S, Sprowitz A, Righetti L, et al. Passive compliant quadruped robot using central pattern generators for locomotion control. In: Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics. Scottsdale, 2008, 710–715

3 Kim J S, Park J H. Development of quadruped robot “Hunter” and simulation of its dynamic gaits. In: Proceedings of 2010 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM). Montreal, 2010, 664–669

4 Remy C D, Baur O, Latta M, Walking and crawling with ALoF: A robot for autonomous locomotion on four legs. Industrial Robot: An International Journal (Toronto, Ont.), 2011, 38(3): 264–268

5 Fukuoka Y, Kimura H, Cohen A H. Adaptive dynamic walking of a quadruped robot on irregular terrain based on biological concepts. International Journal of Robotics Research, 2003, 22(3–4): 187–202

6 Murphy M P, Saunders A, Moreira C, et al. The LittleDog robot. International Journal of Robotics Research, 2011, 30(2): 145–149

7 Raibert M, Blankespoor K, Nelson G, et al. BigDog, the rough-terrain quadruped robot. In: Proceedings of the 17th World Congress: The International Federation of Automatic Control. Seoul, 2008, 10823–10825

8 Ren P, Hong D. Triple stance phase displacement analysis with redundant and non-redundant sensing in a novel three-legged mobile robot using parallel kinematics. Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 2009, 1(4): 041001

9 Yu J, Zhang Z, Pei X. Motion pattern planning of a quadruped robot based on parallel kinematics. In: Proceedings of the ASME 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Portland, 2013, V06BT07A053

10 Murray R M, Li Z X, Sastry S S. A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation. Florida: CRC press, 1994

11 Hopkins J B, Culpepper M L. Synthesis of multi-degree of freedom, parallel flexure system concepts via freedom and constraint Topology (FACT)—Part I: Principles. Precision Engineering, 2010, 34(2): 259–270