Gait study on quadruped robots with a locked joint failure is discussed in this paper. The quadruped robot has a moving appendage which, attached onto the robot body, serves as a controllable apparatus that changes the equivalent position of the center of gravity. We propose a crab gait sequence for the quaruped robot to continue its static walking despite an occurrence of a locked joint failur...

Our goal is to develop an autonomous robot that will fit within a two-inch cube and will locomote by walking and jumping. The robot will be based on the kinematics of a cricket. It will be actuated by braided pneumatic actuators with compressed air provided by an onboard compressor. The air will be distributed by an array of actuated MEMS valves. A neural network will control the robot and it w...

Joint position sensors are necessary for most robot control systems. A single position sensor failure in a normal robot system can greatly degrade performance. This paper presents a method to obtain position information from Cartesian accelerometers without integration. Depending on the number and location of the accelerometers. the proposed system can tolerate the loss of multiple position sen...

This paper presents a pronking controller for our six-legged robot RHex. Development of the controller begins with a passive-dynamics approach, ensuring that the robot is naturally suited to running. Running with flight phase is then achieved using only proprioceptive (joint angle sensing only) feedback for touchdown detection and for tracking fixed joint reference trajectories. Body pitch osci...

Knowledge about the static and dynamic situation is essential for joint workspaces of human and robot. Surveilling the joint area helps to realize a collaboration and co-existence of human and robot. Therefore, we propose in this paper a system that redundantly monitors the workspace to perceive obstacles within the workspace including the human worker. We use multiple, distributed range sensor...

A redundant robot has more degrees of freedom than what is needed to uniquely position the robot end-effector. In practical applications the extra degrees of fieedom increase the orientation and reach of the robot. The load carrying capacity of a single robot can be increased by cooperative manipulation of the load by two or more robots. In this paper we develop an adaptive control scheme for k...

This paper considers the practical implementation of a new maximum likelihood robot identification method, developed by Olsen and Petersen. In particular, the practical issue concerning the estimation of the joint velocities and accelerations from joint angle measurements, and its consequence on the parameter estimation and accuracy, is considered. Simulation and experimental results on a KUKA ...

This paper is an investigation of completely mechanical quick changeable joints for multipurpose explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robots. With the assistance of a quick changeable joint, an ordinary EOD robot becomes a multipurpose robot with an end effector which can be switched during the task. This exchangeable end effector permits the robot to perform more complex duties. Making the joint ...

Anticipating the actions of others is key to coordinating joint activities. We propose the notion of anticipatory action and perception for for robots acting with humans. We describe four systems in which anticipation has been modeled for human-robot interaction; two in a teamwork setting, and two in a human-robot joint performance setting. In evaluating the effects of anticipatory agent activi...