Omnidirectional supervisory control of a multilegged vehicle using periodic gaits

A novel algorithm is described for omnidirectional control of a multilegged robot vehicle using periodic gaits. The vehicle model is chosen from a hexapod robot vehicle, named the Adaptive Suspension Vehicle, which is under development. To implement periodic gaits for omnidirectional control, the notion of the constrained working volume (CWV) is introduced on the basis of reachability of the leg and the kinetic maximum locomotion period is defined using the CWV. As a result, the leg touchdown and liftoff points are constrained within the CWV during vehicle locomotion. Based on this constraint, the foothold selection problem is addressed. The algorithm was developed through a computer graphics simulation; results of the simulations are discussed