Walking robot with a circulating gait

The Ambler walking robot has been developed specifically for autonomous exploration of planetary and lunar surfaces. The Ambler, which maintains its body on a level trajectory while walking, has unique orthogonal legs that are stacked under the body instead of the traditional animal-like arrangement of legs around the body. The resulting stacked configuration leads to a novel circulating gait that promises to improve mobility in terrains of extreme roughness. The Ambler´s level body motion, orthogonal legs, and circulating gait greatly simplify physical control, terrain model construction, and motion planning-all of which are traditional impediments to autonomous travel across rough terrain