Abstract
This article treats development of a musculoskeletal quadruped locomotion robot, having pneumatic artificial muscles at the trunk changeable stiffness. Pneumatic artificial muscles have variable elastic characteristics. The robot has a multi joint structure in its spine and has a changeable elasticity and viscosity. Using the musculoskeletal quadruped robot, we investigated relationships between the stiffness of the musculoskeletal system and gait stability in locomotion. The results show there are some appropriate conditions for the stiffness at the trunk for each gait in the meanings of stability.
