Hexapod Robot Gait Switching for Energy Consumption and Cost of Transport Management Using Heuristic Algorithms

Abstract

Due to the prospect of using walking robots in an impassable environment for tracked or wheeled vehicles, walking locomotion is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in robotic history. Walking robots, however, are still being deeply researched and created. Locomotion over irregular terrain and energy consumption are among the major problems. Walking robots require many actuators to cross different terrains, leading to substantial consumption of energy. A robot must be carefully designed to solve this problem, and movement parameters must be correctly chosen. We present a minimization of the hexapod robot’s energy consumption in this paper. Secondly, we investigate the reliance on power consumption in robot movement speed and gaits along with the Cost of Transport (CoT). To perform optimization of the hexapod robot energy consumption, we propose two algorithms. The heuristic algorithm performs gait switching based on the current speed of the robot to ensure minimum energy consumption. The Red Fox Optimization (RFO) algorithm performs a nature-inspired search of robot gait variable space to minimize CoT as a target function. The algorithms are tested to assess the efficiency of the hexapod robot walking through real-life experiments. We show that it is possible to save approximately 7.7–21% by choosing proper gaits at certain speeds. Finally, we demonstrate that our hexapod robot is one of the most energy-efficient hexapods by comparing the CoT values of various walking robots.

Modelling and Control of Mechatronic and Robotic Systems

“…The work of [21] outlines a method for the identification of optimal trajectories of quadruped robots through genetic algorithms. Furthermore, the authors in [22] illustrate an optimization of energy consumption and cost of transport using heuristic algorithms applied to a hexapod robot.…”

Straight Gait Research of a Small Electric Hexapod Robot

“…Recent researches on hexapod robot gait include optimization of gait energy consumption, gait planning over uneven terrain, and so on. Reference [23] analyzed the energy consumption of different gaits. It proposed a heuristic algorithm to switch gait based on the current speed, which can take full advantage of the gait diversity for a hexapod robot.…”

An autonomous ground robot to support firefighters' interventions in indoor emergencies

“…Autonomous robots play an important role in emergency response missions (Luneckas et al, 2021), including search and rescue missions after natural or human‐made disasters (Grogan et al, 2018; Murphy, 2012) and interventions during emergencies, like, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (Guzman et al, 2016) and wildfires (Baudoin et al, 2009). They are used for the first response in disaster scenarios to gather the information required for later human intervention (Baudoin et al, 2009).…”