Biologically inspired gait transition control for a quadruped walking robot

The gait transition of a quadruped walking robot is the switching of gait with non-periodic gait sequences between the periodic ones such as from walk to trot or trot to walk etc. It is very much important because the robot should change its gait depending upon the moving speed to enhance the efficiency of locomotion. In this paper, we present a quasi-static gait transition control method for a quadruped walking robot. It is based on the observation on the locomotion behaviors of quadruped animals, which show a sudden and discrete changes of gait patterns depending on the speed. The method predefines gait transition patterns, and gait sequences are determined according to the current and desired leg postures. It can be useful because the applicable to any type of walking controller. In this study, we implement the proposed method on a self-contained quadruped walking robot, called Artificial Digitigrade for Natural Environment Version III (AiDIN-III), and its effectiveness is experimentally validated.