抄録
This paper proposes a novel manipulation method with a quadruped robot using its whole body. The quadruped robot we have developed can take various postures. Two of its legs can support its body by standing on the knees and the other two can serve as arms. The robot can hold a relatively big and heavy object with its two arms and can manipulate the object by moving its body. The two legs standing on the knees form a closed link system. Its desired configurations during the manipulation are at an increased mobility singularity if all knees and tips of the two legs are in contact with the floor. The problem with the singularity is that the mobility of the robot changes significantly around it. This paper shows a contact condition for the legs free from such a singularity. We conduct experiments to verify that our quadruped robot can perform the manipulation. A possible application of the manipulation is loading/unloading an object onto/from the body of a quadruped robot.
