Abstract-Dynamic legged locomotion entails navigating terrain at high speed. The impact shocks from rapid footfalls, pivotal for such mobility, introduce large impulses that saturate motion measurement. A biomimetic approach is presented in which visual information, in the form of optical flow, complements information from inertial sensors. The motion is then determined using a two-phase Hybrid Extended Kalman Filter. Experimentation in determining attitudes on a robotic leg platform shows a reduction in drift over inertial approaches and in delay over visual approaches. In tests with 6g impulses, pose was recovered within 5 deg rms with angular rate errors limited to 10 deg/sec at frequencies up to 250 Hz.
Research in the area of legged robotic systems has spanned almost the entire history of modern robotics. IFToMM has played a crucial role in this history by providing a channel of communication between East and West during the cold war period, and via its Technical Committee on Robotics in more recent years. In this chapter we have attempted an overview of what has become a vigorous field of research.
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