Abstract
This paper discusses the design of terrain-adaptive sole mechanism for multi-legged robots that walk on uneven terrain. To improve stability on irregular ground, the sole mechanism should have following two functions: (1) adaptability to the shape of ground, (2) shape-locking function after landing. To realize above with compact and light weight structure, the mechanisms with passive components are discussed, and the sole mechanism for quadruped walking robot TITAN VIII is developed. To measure the effective support area of the developed sole mechanism and to examine the effect, experiments were done. Through the experiments, the effectiveness of the developed sole mechanism was confirmed.
