Locomotion with continuum limbs

Abstract

This paper presents the kinematics, dynamics, and experimental results for a novel quadruped robot using continuum limbs. We propose soft continuum limbs as a new paradigm for robotic locomotion in unstructured environments due to their potential to generate a wide array of locomotion behaviors ranging from walking, trotting, crawling, and propelling to whole arm grasping as a means of negotiating difficult obstacles. A straightforward method to derive the kinematics and dynamics for the proposed quadruped has been demonstrated through numerical simulations. Initial experiments on a prototype continuum quadruped demonstrate the ability to stand up from a flat-belly stance, absorb external disturbances such as maintaining stability after dropping from a height and after being perturbed by a collision, and crawling on flat and cluttered environments. Experiment results provide evidence that locomotion with soft continuum limbs are feasible and usable in unstructured environments for variety of applications.