Choosing Your Steps Carefully

Robot walking, while appealing for its resemblance to human motion, is not an obvious choice when both economy and versatility are desired. Wheeled vehicles are surprisingly capable on different terrains and are nearly unbeatable in terms of economy. In specialized situations, legged locomotion may...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE robotics & automation magazine 2007-06, Vol.14 (2), p.18-29
Main Author: Kuo, A.D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuators
Applied sciences
Computer science
control theory
systems
Control theory. Systems
Economics
Exact sciences and technology
Fuel economy
Human
Human motion
Leg
Legged locomotion
Locomotion
Mobile robots
Muscles
Power generation economics
Robot sensing systems
Robotics
Robotics and automation
Robots
Transportation
Vehicle dynamics
Versatility
Wheels
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Summary:Robot walking, while appealing for its resemblance to human motion, is not an obvious choice when both economy and versatility are desired. Wheeled vehicles are surprisingly capable on different terrains and are nearly unbeatable in terms of economy. In specialized situations, legged locomotion may become preferable. But legged locomotion entails inertial and other energetic costs that do not appear in wheeled machines. The force and work requirements of legged locomotion also only appear energetically economical when considering the unique features of the human body and human muscle. The attainment of high economy in a legged robot requires either actuators similar to humans' or discontinuous nonlinear mechanisms that can reduce energetic losses to support a load. The attainment of high versatility indicates that the ZMP is likely to remain applicable, unless serious advances are made in other control theoretical approaches.
ISSN:1070-9932
1558-223X
DOI:10.1109/MRA.2007.380653