Fast Locomotion of Small Quadruped Robot Driven by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

Abstract

This report describes a small quadruped robot driven by pneumatic artificial muscles that can realize fast locomotion. Since the size of the robot is small, the room for the actuators is limited. We simplify the driving mechanism of each leg as three pneumatic artificial muscles and two valves, 13 muscles and 9 valves in total. By applying simple feedforward control, the robot can realize fast trot whose speed is up to 2.67 [m/s] (9.6km/h).