Preliminary Bounding Experiments in a Dynamic Hexapod

This paper describes the implementation of a preliminary bounding gait in a small hexapod, RHex [1], with compliant legs. A four-legged bounding gait, which uses only the front and back leg pairs, achieves an average speed of 1.5m/s and a low specific resistance. Leg touchdown angles and desired stance trajectories are fixed a priori. The only feedback employed is leg angle sensing and touchdown detection. With no explicit controller-level synchronization between the front and back leg pairs, stable pitch oscillations are obtained from the excited natural dynamics of the system.