Hexapod Robot with Ground Reaction Force Sensor on Rough Terrain

In this research, a hexapod robot and a 3-axis ground reaction force sensor have been designed and developed. The developed hexapod robot consists of six leg units, each unit is with 3 degrees of freedom. The developed ground reaction force sensor has a hemisphere sensing range and the contact between the foot and the ground can be detected as a thrust load and contact between the foot and the wall can be detected as a radial load. Since the developed sensor can be applied regardless of the direction of movement, the sensor can be used to achieve omnidirectional movement of a hexapod robot on rough terrain at a low cost. In this paper, a posture control method of walking on rough terrain is proposed for the hexapod robot with a gyro-sensor and the originally developed ground reaction force sensor. The usefulness of the developed force sensor and the effectiveness of the proposed posture control method have been verified by experiments.