Nonlinear model predictive running control of Kangaroo robot: A one-leg planar underactuated hopping robot

The control of dynamically stable hopping robots has made great progress in the last decades. This paper deals with modeling and control of Kangaroo hopping robot. It is a one-leg planar hopping robot which imitates the mode of displacement of kangaroos. Lagrangian dynamic model of the hopping robot is computed on the different phases of the jumping cycle. A new control scheme is proposed to control the leg thrust during stance phase for planar hopping. A nonlinear model predictive control has been combined with Raibert's approach which has improved significantly its performances. A simulator has been developed to simulate the behavior of the controlled robot. The proposed control approach is validated in simulation and is compared with Raibert's approach.