A star-topology dynamic model for multipedal locomotion

Dynamic analysis and control of robotic systems with more than a few degrees of freedom, taking into account the full dynamics of the system, is a difficult task. Thus, quite often assumptions are made to simplify the dynamics of the system. In this paper we consider robots with a star-topology structure and investigate the dynamic interaction of the branches of such a robot when one or more branches are in contact or collision with the environment (thereby forming closed chains). An important example of a star-topology system is a multilegged (e.g., bipedal) walking robot, and in this paper we briefly describe an approach for the control of a multilegged walking robot, using dynamic reduction.