Biologically inspired adaptive dynamic walking of the quadruped on irregular terrain

We are trying to induce a quadruped robot to walk dynamically on irregular terrain by using a nervous system model. In our previous studies, we employed a control system involving a CPG (Central Pattern Generator) and reflex mechanism for terrain with a low degree of irregularity. In this paper, for terrain with both medium and high degrees of irregularity, we propose the biologically inspired control method consisting of four levels. The results of basic experiments for each level show that a robot can walk on a single bump, walk up and down a slope, and walk up a step. We discuss about meanings and advantages of the biologically inspired control method. It is shown that principles of dynamic walking as a physical phenomenon are identical in animals and robots in spite of difference of acutuators and sensors. MPEG footage of these experiments can be seen at: http://www.kimura.is.uec.ac.jp.