Design and Control of Quadruped Robot along with Machine Vision based Path Planning

The invention of Walking Robots has fascinated mankind over a long time. In today’s technological world we are able to build dynamic legged machines. These machines have upper hand to wheeled vehicles during mobility on rough terrain. Most of the quadruped robots have been actuated by motors, which are popular for their small size, ease of use and accuracy in control. However, electric motors produce less torque relative to their size and weight, thereby making reduction drives with high ratios essential to increase output torque. Unfortunately, this results in reduced speed capability of robot. So, to overcome these drawbacks of torque and speed, we have used lead screw driven by Brush-less DC motor, which in turn drives joints of quadruped robot with the help of linkages. Lead screw have various major advantages over directly using motor, like it has large load carrying capacity, self-locking property, cheap and reliable, smooth and noiseless operation and it also provides very precise and accurate motion which is essential for accurate positioning of robot.