Hydraulic Quadruped Robot JINPOONG II: Toward Qualified Platform for Mobile Manipulation in Field Environment

We introduce a hydraulic quadruped robot, JINPOONG II, designed to qualify as a base platform for mobile manipulation. The mobile manipulation process in the field environment can be classified into three stages: “Approach,” “Stretch-out,” and “Manipulation.” To qualify as suitable the mobile platform must have “mobility,” “dexterity” to perform each stage, and “stability” to ensure stable operation of every process of stages. The quadruped robot is the most suitable candidate for mobile manipulator application because it can satisfy these requirements. We adopted a SLIP-based leg mechanism and a suitable control strategy to configure a quadruped robot that meets the qualifications. We then tested JINPOONG II’s performance of body motion and interaction with external forces to verify whether the subject robot has the required qualifications in line with the design intent. The results established that JINPOONG II could perform 6 DoF motions of the body and various other compliance motions and walking on rough terrain. This indicates that JINPOONG II is equipped with qualifications as a base platform for mobile manipulators.