Browsing by Subject "Gait analysis"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
Control and study of bio-inspired quadrupedal gaits on an underactuated miniature robot
(Institute of Physics, 2023-01-25) Askari, Mohammad; Uğur, Mustafa; Mahkam, Nima; Yeldan, Alper; Özcan, Onur
This paper presents a linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller for controlling the gait of a miniature, foldable quadruped robot with individually actuated and controlled legs (MinIAQ-III). The controller is implemented on a palm-size robot made by folding an acetate sheet. MinIAQ-III has four DC motors for actuation and four rotary sensors for feedback. It is one of the few untethered robots on a miniature scale capable of working with different gaits with the help of its individually-actuated legs and the developed controller. The presented LQG controller controls each leg’s positions and rotational speeds by measuring the positions and estimating the rotational speeds, respectively. With the precise gait control on the robot, we demonstrate different gaits inspired by quadrupeds in nature and compare the simulation and experiment results for some of the gaits. An extensive simulation environment developed for robot dynamics helps us to predict the locomotion behavior of the robot in various environments. The match between the simulation and the experiment results shows that the proposed LQG controller can successfully control the miniature robot’s gaits. We also conduct a case study that shows the potential to use the simulation to achieve different robot behavior. In a case study, we present our robot performing a prancing similar to horses. We use the simulation environment to find the required motor configuration phases and physical parameters, which can make our robot prance. After finding the parameters in simulation, we replicate the configuration in our robot and observe the robot making the same moves as the simulation. © 2023 IOP Publishing Ltd.
Open Access
Design, control, modeling, and locomotion analysis of a multi-legged modular miniature robot with soft backbones
(2020-07) Mahkam, Nima
Soft Modular Legged roBot (SMoLBot) is a legged, foldable, modular, miniature robot with soft backbones. SMoLBot’s body and locomotion mechanisms are folded out of acetate sheets and its compliant connection mechanisms are molded from Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). High maneuverability and smooth walking pattern can be achieved in miniature robots if high stiﬀness kinematic parts are connected with compliant components, providing the robot structural compliance and better adaptability to diﬀerent surfaces. SMoLBot is exploiting features from origami-inspired robots and soft robots, such as low weight and low cost foldable rigid structures and adaptable soft connection mechanisms made of PDMS. Every single module in SMoLBot is actuated and controlled by two separate DC motors, that enable gait modiﬁcation and a higher degree of freedom on controlling the motion and body undulation of the robot in turning and rough terrain locomotion. Each module has 44.5 mm width, 16.75 mm length, and 15 mm height, which is approximately the same size as two DC motors and a Li-Po battery. The dynamic formulation of SMoLBot is obtained using Newton-Euler formulation and it depends on the physical parameters of the contact and closed-chain kinematic analysis of the feet. The dynamic model framework is proposed by determining the dynamic locomotion parameters of each module as an individual system, as well as, considering the dynamics of the whole robot; i.e. the robot is modeled as one system and modules are considered to be set of ﬂexible links connected to each other, within this system. Kinematic constraints among these modules are obtained by considering the types of backbones integrated in the robot. Various types of backbones are used within the experiments that are classiﬁed into two groups: rigid, and compliant backbones. Experimental results of SMoLBot running/walking with diﬀerent symmetrical and asymmetrical gates validate the dynamic model presented in this thesis. Additional to the dynamic model, the eﬀect of the backbone stiﬀness on the locomotion of the legged miniature modular robots with multiple numbers of modules is studied. Analyses comparing the velocity of SMoLBot with diﬀerent numbers of modules and different types of backbones are presented using the proposed dynamic model. The results indicate that there is an optimum torsional stiﬀness of the backbone for a legged miniature modular robot that maximizes the robot’s translational velocity. Additionally, we can show that, for a given backbone stiﬀness or a speciﬁc range of compliance between the modules, there is an optimum number of feet for the miniature robots. Furthermore, in this thesis, a locomotion study that investigates the motion patterns of the running/walking multi-legged modular miniature robots with soft module connections, is conducted. The locomotion study is done using the presented dynamic model and results are veriﬁed using SMoLBot. The optimum feet sequence and the optimum stride length of a multi-legged robot are derived using the locomotion analyses, and the dynamic and kinematic formulations. The optimum gait analysis of the multi-legged SMoLBots represents diﬀerent but unique feet contact sequence patterns for each robot with a diﬀerent module number and diverse ranges of compliance between the modules. Furthermore, analysis considering the eﬀect of various feet failure cases on the locomotion of a multilegged robot with soft/rigid backbones, is conducted. This study investigates the locomotion behavior of a legged miniature robot with diﬀerent combinations of the non-functioning feet. Additionally, a case-sensitivity study of an n-legged SMoLBot’s locomotion on its individual modules during the operation, is also conducted. This study investigates the modular robot’s locomotion with multiple diﬀerent failure cases where each particular case only considers the eﬀect of an individual module failure on the overall motion of the robot, while the gate is not altered.
Open Access
Dynamic modeling and gait analysis for miniature robots in the absence of foot placement control
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2019) Askari, Mohammad; Özcan, Onur
The study of animals and insects have led to realization that animals select their gaits, patterns of leg movement, according to speed. For proper gait planning, the legs must be controlled for proper foot placement with respect to the body motion and ground interactions. However, in small scale robotic platforms gait planning through foot placement control is neither cost effective nor easily attainable due to a lack of available sensors. Thus, even though a desired gait is envisioned at the design phase, it is not known whether the gait is optimum. In this work, we present the comprehensive dynamic model of the miniature foldable robot, MinIAQ-II, which has four independently actuated legs. Dynamic model is used to perform gait analysis, to investigate the difference between the intended gait and the achieved gait in the absence of foot placement control. The model is verified through slow speed walking experiments on flat terrain. The work presented can be modified for different miniature robots with passive legs to predict their locomotion under no foot placement control.