This thesis presents a novel locomotion technique, called legless locomotion, for convex-bodied legged robots. The motivation for studying legless locomotion stems from the mobile robot recovery problem, stated simply as what should a robot do when trapped? Legless locomotion is the technique of locomotion for a legged robot which has no leg-ground contact, but can use the swinging legs to exci...

We propose a new horizontal locomotion model to describe the motion of an eight-legged bio-inspired miniature robot. The model does not include compliance, and can capture the kinematics of the observed locomotion behavior that corresponds to an alternating tetrapod gait. We exploit symmetries and synergies to reduce the eight-legged robot to a mechanism that is composed by two switching four-b...

As legged robots gain the abilities to walk, run, and balance on more than just flat, obstacle-free floors, they grow closer to fulfilling the potential of legged locomotion shown by biological systems. To truly fulfill this potential these robots must successfully traverse complicated, rough terrain, requiring the robots to step onto or over various features of the environment. Furthermore, wh...

This two-part paper discusses the analysis and control of legged locomotion in terms of N -step capturability: the ability of a legged system to come to a stop without falling by taking N or fewer steps. We consider this ability to be crucial to legged locomotion and a useful, yet not overly restrictive criterion for stability. Part 1 introduces a theoretical framework for assessing N -step cap...

The spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) is a simple, passivelyelastic two-degree-of-freedom model for legged locomotion that describes the center-of-mass dynamics of many animal species and some legged robots. Conventionally, SLIP models employ a single support leg during stance and, while they can exhibit stable steady gaits when motions are confined to the sagittal plane, threedimensional ...

Recently, the development of intelligent robots has benefited from a deeper understanding of the biomechanics and neurology of biological systems. Researchers have proposed the concept of Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) as a mechanism for generating an efficient control strategy for legged robots based on biological locomotion principles. Although many studies ha...

The objective of this paper is to present the evolution and the state-of-theart in the area of legged locomotion systems. In a first phase different possibilities for mobile robots are discussed, namely the case of artificial legged locomotion systems, while emphasizing their advantages and limitations. In a second phase an historical overview of the evolution of these systems is presented, bea...

The inherent elasticity of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) gives this technology great potential in energy efficient locomotion applications. In this work, a modular double cone DEA is developed with reduced manufacturing and maintenance time costs. This actuator can lift 45 g of mass (5 times its own weight) while producing a stroke of 10.4 mm (23.6% its height). The contribution of the ...

Gaits study is a fundamental part of legged vehicle research. Legged locomotion has been used by biological systems for hundreds of millions of years In contrast, wheeled locomotion vehicles have only a history of several thousand years. Wheeled vehicles are so familiar and ubiquitours in our modern way of life, and have been developed to such level of sophistication. But, approximately half of...

In 1709, Berkeley hypothesized of the human that distance is measurable by 'the motion of his body, which is perceivable by touch'. To be sufficiently general and reliable, Berkeley's hypothesis must imply that distance measured by legged locomotion approximates actual distance, with the measure invariant to gait, speed and number of steps. We studied blindfolded human participants in a task in...