Low-profile crawling for humanoid motion in tight spaces

While humanoid robots and various associated algorithms for gait control and motion planning have been considered in the prior literature, the possibility of utilizing a low-profile crawling gait to operate in tight spaces (e.g., going under obstacles) has not been considered previously and enables new capabilities of the humanoid robot. In this paper, a new gait for humanoid robots is presented that enables humanoid motion in tight spaces that are vertically constrained. The gait is laterally symmetric and utilizes a cooperative motion of both the hands and feet. The addition of this gait expands the set of environments that can be handled by the humanoid robot. The efficacy of the proposed gait is demonstrated experimentally on a NAO humanoid robot.