Forward dynamics of multilegged vehicles using the composite rigid body method

Abstract

A new method for simulating multilegged vehicles, using the composite rigid body (CRB) method is presented. Previous approaches use hard constraints and result in closed kinematic loops which require the solution of constraint forces. Using the decoupled tree-structure (DTS) approach compliant contact modeling is used when the feet of the vehicle contact the ground. This approach is compared to the articulated body DTS method (AB/DTS), and proves to be the most computationally efficient method for multilegged vehicles when each leg has up to three degrees of freedom.