Reconfigurable Quadruped Robot with Mammalian and Sprawling Walking Modes

Currently, terrestrial robots have accelerated growth in their use due to the various applications they can solve. Robots with legs are classified by the number of limbs they use. The most used in the industry are quadruped robots, with mammalian and extended walking configurations. The proposal research presents the development of a novel quadruped robot with a hybrid walking operation. In other words, it allows the reconfiguration of the quadruped robot automatically into mammalian or extended mode according to the terrain conditions. Experimental tests were carried out to measure the robot performance for each configuration. The mammalian reached speeds of 12.52cm/s, 89% faster than the extended configuration. On the other hand, in tilt tests, the extended can walk on surfaces inclined up to 18.2°, with 28% more inclination than the mammalian configuration. Finally, the quadruped robot presented allows to be exploited the advantages of mammalian and extended walking depending on the required operating conditions, increasing the possibility of use in different applications.