Design of prismatic quadruped walking vehicle TITAN VI

A quadruped walking vehicle TITAN VI having a new leg mechanism is designed and manufactured. Objectives of design of TITAN VI are to walk on an ordinary staircase of 30 to 40 degrees, to constitute an active platform which assists manipulation in the stationary condition, and to walk at a high speed by using dynamic walk. The new mechanisms introduced in TITAN VI are, (1) prismatic joint leg mechanism which does not interfere with the steps of a staircase, and which performs a cylindrical coordinates motion with good energy efficiency, (2) an articulated body structure having node which copes with a steep staircase, (3) a vertical foot driving system having a dual mode transmission mechanism and the like. The detail of these mechanisms are discussed. The effectiveness of these considerations are verified by the walking experiment using the trial-manufactured TITAN VI.<>