Impedance control of articulated body mobile robot "Koryu"

The authors have developed an articulated body mobile robot, Koryu (KR), which is structured by multiple segments that are actively connected. They report on a specific motion control method based on the impedance concept that fuses posture control, which constantly maintains the posture of the entire robot body, and force control, which optimizes the distribution of support force on each wheel, in order to improve adaptability to irregular terrain. The effectiveness of the control method is verified by running experiments in which prototype models KR-I, KR-Im, and KR-II flexibly followed a ground surface of unknown shape by optionally controlling the distribution of support force while maintaining perpendicular posture.