High-Speed Quadruped Walking in Constant-Posture/Velocity by Counterweight Legs

Gait styles of quadruped robots can be classified into two main types: static walking and dynamic walking. In both styles, achieving constant-posture/velocity and high speed walking is impossible without additional actuators or joints on the torso side. This is due to the large inertial forces generated by the robot’s legs moving at high speed. We propose a method to cancel the inertial translational forces generated by leg motion by attaching counterweights to the upper sides of the legs, and a gait setting method that allows the trunk to maintain constant posture and velocity during high-speed walking. Furthermore, as a result of kinetic analysis and actual machine experiments with the Counterweight Legs quadruped robot, we demonstrated that it is possible to suppress the influence of inertial translational forces.