Deviation from the direction of motion across gaits in a hexapodal robot

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to test a chassis robot on rugged road cargo handling.

Design/methodology/approach

Attitude solution of D-H series robot gyroscope speed and acceleration sensor.

Findings

In identical experimental environments, hexapodal robots experience smaller deviations when using a four-footed propulsive gait from a typical three-footed gait for forward motion; for the same distance but at different speeds, the deviation basically keeps itself within the same range when the robot advances forward with four-foot propulsive gait; because the foot slide in the three-footed gait sometimes experiences frictions, the robot exhibits a large gap in directional deviations in different courses during motion; for motion using a four-footed propulsive gait, there are minor directional deviations of hexapodal robots resulting from experimental errors, which can be reduced through optimizing mechanical structures.

Originality/value

Planning different gaits can solve problems existing in some typical gaits. This article has put forward a gait planning method for hexapodal robots moving forward with diverse gaits as a redundant multifreedom structure. Subsequent research can combine a multiparallel-legged structure to analyze kinematics, optimize the robot’s mechanical structure and carry out in-depth research of hexapod robot gaits.

Citation

Niu, Z., Zhan, A. and Cui, Y. (2020), "Deviation from the direction of motion across gaits in a hexapodal robot", Industrial Robot, Vol. 47 No. 3, pp. 325-333. https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-03-2019-0054