Proposal of a variable constraint control for SMS with application to a running and jumping quadruped

The authors propose the concept of variable constraint control (VCC) and show a control methodology which can be commonly applicable to any mechanisms with constraints. The key technologies are expression of constraints by making use of equations of motion and introduction of an algebraic differential equation to derive the control law which realizes these constraints as decoupled motions. We show the design procedure using mono-leg and two-leg running and jumping robots together with some experimental results.