Toward Ultra High Speed Locomotors: Design and test of a cheetah robot hind limb

High speed robot locomotion is one of the most challenging problems in mobile robots. Fast robots push the limits of mechanical design, control and perception. The cheetah is an existence proof of what the authors term an Ultra-High Speed Locomotor, which can attain speeds of greater than 50 leg lengths per second and can cover 10 meters in a single gait cycle. In this paper, the energetics and dynamics of high-speed quadruped movement are analyzed. A leg design is presented that combines a novel hybrid actuator concept plus biarticular muscles to create a lightweight (17 Newton) leg capable of generating 90 Newtons of force. Static and dynamic test results show the promise of the hybrid actuator system in ultra high-speed locomotors.