Legged robot

Legged robots, or walking machines, are designed for locomotion on rough terrain and require control of leg actuators to maintain balance, sensors to determine foot placement and planning algorithms to determine the direction and speed of movement. The periodic contact of the legs of the robot with the ground is called the gait of the walker. In order to maintain locomotion the center of gravity of the walker must be supported either statically or dynamically. Static support is provided by ensuring the center of gravity is within the support pattern formed by legs in contact with the ground. Dynamic support is provided by keeping the trajectory of the center of gravity located so that it can be repositioned by forces from one or more of its legs. == Types ==

Legged robots can be categorized by the number of limbs they use, which determines gaits available. Many-legged robots tend to be more stable, while fewer legs lends itself to greater maneuverability. One-legged One-legged, or pogo stick robots use a hopping motion for navigation. In the 1980s, Carnegie Mellon University developed a one-legged robot to study balance. • MIT's new back flipping mini Cheetah robot • Aliengo by Unitree Robotics • Stanford Pupper • The Open Dynamic Robot Initiative robots with 8DOF and 12DOF • Botcat-robot with a moving spine • Cheetah-Cub robot from the Biorobotics Laboratory • Oncilla robot from the Biorobotics Laboratory(open source) • Morti robot from the Dynamic Locomotion Group • Honey Badger by MAB Robotics Six-legged Six-legged robots, or hexapods, are motivated by a desire for even greater stability than bipedal or quadrupedal robots. Their final designs often mimic the mechanics of insects, and their gaits may be categorized similarly. These include: • Wave gait: the slowest gait, in which pairs of legs move in a "wave" from the back to the front. • Tripod gait: a slightly faster step, in which three legs move at once. The remaining three legs provide a stable tripod for the robot. Six-legged robots include: • LAURON, a six-legged, biologically inspired robot being developed at the FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik in Germany. • Odex, a 375-pound hexapod developed by Odetics in the 1980s. Odex distinguished itself with its onboard computers, which controlled each leg. • Genghis, one of the earliest autonomous six-legged robots, was developed at MIT by Rodney Brooks in the 1980s. • The modern toy series, Hexbug. Eight-legged Eight-legged legged robots are inspired by spiders and other arachnids, as well as some underwater walkers. They are more stable than six-legged robots, which enabled some early successes with legged robots. Eight-legged robots include: • Dante, a Carnegie Mellon University project designed to explore Mount Erebus. • The T8X, a commercially available robot designed to emulate a spider's appearance and movements. Hybrids Some robots use a combination of legs and wheels. This grants a machine the speed and energy efficiency of wheeled locomotion as well as the mobility of legged navigation. Boston Dynamics' Handle, a bipedal robot with wheels on both legs, is one example. ==See also==