Design and control of a biomimetic hexapedal walker

This paper describes progress towards the development of a monopropellant-powered, pneumatically-actuated, hexapod robot. Design of the robot is presented, and an optimization based on the dynamic simulation of locomotion is described that selects the kinematic configuration to evenly distribute joint torques in the leg during locomotion. A finite state controller and leg impedance controller are described, and the controller is experimentally implemented on a pair of the hexapod legs to (1) validate the effectiveness of the control approach and (2) verify that the joint torques are indeed evenly distributed within the legs. Another optimization based on the dynamic simulation of locomotion is described that selects weights for a coordination-level controller that best tracks a desired body velocity.