Modeling and Analysis on Energy Consumption of Hydraulic Quadruped Robot for Optimal Trot Motion Control

Abstract

Energy consumption is an important performance index of quadruped robots. In this paper, the energy consumptions of the quadruped robot SCalf with a trot gait under different gait parameters are analyzed. Firstly, the kinematics and dynamics models of the robot are established. Then, an energy model including the mechanical power and heat rate is proposed. To obtain the energy consumption, a cubic spline interpolation foot trajectory is used, and the feet forces are calculated by using the minimization of norm of the foot force method. Moreover, an energetic criterion measuring the energy cost is defined to evaluate the motion. Finally, the gait parameters such as step height, step length, standing height, gait cycle, and duty cycle that influence the energy consumption are studied, which could provide a theoretical basis for parameter optimization and motion control of quadruped robots.

Special Issue on Mobile Robots Navigation

“…In the field of movement control of legged mobile robots, Yang et al [13] aim attention at the problem of energy consumption, as it can be considered a performance index of quadruped robots. In their work, they model and analyze the energy consumption of the robot SCalf with a trot gait, and they study the effect of different gait parameters, such as step length, gait cycle, step height, and duty cycle.…”

The Complex Dynamic Locomotive Control and Experimental Research of a Quadruped-Robot Based on the Robot Trunk

“…If given the coordinate of a foot in the torso coordinate frame {O b }, the joint angles of quadruped robot legs could be solved by Equations 3and (6).…”

“…The joint angles of the hydraulic quadruped robot could be solved by substituting Equation (19) back into Equation (6). The driving functions of hydraulic cylinder can be calculated by the geometric relationship of the legs of the hydraulic quadruped robot.…”

“…Bigdog has good adaptability and stability, and can adapt to complex and dangerous environments, such as mountains, jungles, beaches, swamps, ice and snow. Since then, hydraulic quadruped robots have become a popular research topic because of their excellent obstacle-crossing and anti-interference ability in complex environments [6][7][8], and some momentous achievements have been made in recent years. For instance, Boston Dynamic's Alpha Dog [9], Cheetah [10], Spot [11] and Spotmini [12], ETH Zurich's ANYmal [13], the Italian Institute of Technology's HyQ [14], MiniHyQ [15] and HyQ2Max [16], and Shandong University's SCalf-I [17] and SCalf-II [18].…”

Fault-Tolerant Tripod Gait Planning and Verification of a Hexapod Robot

“…Legged robots are almost always applied in a structured environment while insects are faced with a more complex variable environment. Currently, significant achievements have been made in the research of robots in a normal state in terms of structure, gait, stability, and energy consumption [3]. Through phase coordination, tripod gait, tetrapod gait, wave gait, etc., have been realized.…”