Quiet (nearly collisionless) robotic walking

We present a simple walking prototype that is capable of demonstrating an efficient, near-collisionless gait down a ramp. This inertia-coupled rimless wheel is able to “walk” down a 3° incline, which corresponds to a cost of transport of approximately 0.05. This is the first device designed to demonstrate the concept of collisionless walking, where energy-loss due to foot/ground collisions is minimized by matching the velocity of the foot and the ground at the moment of impact. We also present and analyze a novel torsional spring design which was used to couple the inertia device to the frame. We conjecture that walking robots based on this design will be able to exploit the concept of collisionless gaits and may be able to achieve significantly more energy-efficient walking than existing robot designs.