動物の筋腱複合体を規範とする小型四脚ロボットの研究開発

―柔軟な背骨機構の開発―

抄録

Quadruped animals realize dynamic motion such as fast running and high and long jumping with their flexible body. The motion of their front and rear legs involves the flexion and extension of their spine when running or jumping. To improve motion performance of the quadruped robot developed by our group, a flexible spine linked with legs is introduced. The flexion and extension of the spine has been realized using the passive spine joint with torsion springs, and the coupled motion between the spine and the legs have been realized to connect spine with front and rear legs by cables. As a result of jump experiment, the robot with flexible spine has realized longer forward jump than the robot with rigid spine.