Trot gait control of quadruped robot based on inclination of body

Legged robots have been expected to work at areas where conventional robots with wheels cannot move. However, control of legged locomotion is much more difficult than wheel locomotion because a legged robot is exposed to risks to stumble. In conventional studies, the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) has been considered as an important index for controlling legged locomotion. On the other hand, many studies based on strategies of locomotion of animals mainly aim to generate rhythm of the robot motion or optimize energy consumption rather than control the motion. However, controlling the robot motion may also be improved by considering the effective locomotion theory of animals. In this study, inclination of robot's body is considered as a new index of stable walk instead of the ZMP and the controller design based on the new index is proposed. The proposed controller was verified by simulation of a robot walking with quadruped locomotion.