Foot trajectory for a quadruped walking machine

Deals with the foot trajectory design for a quadruped walking machine. A quadruped walking machine requires both uneven terrain walking and high-speed flat surface walking capability. The static walking method was used for uneven terrain walking and the dynamic walking method for flat plane walking. In the dynamic walking case, the relative speed between the foot and the ground causes loss of body balance. A foot trajectory is designed based on two points, the kinematics of foot motion and the relationship between joint motion and joint driving torque. The paper also discusses a method for reducing impact force upon initial contact with a floor by a periodic foot trajectory based on the wave motion of a cam. In this method, vertical and horizontal motion of a foot trajectory were independently generated using cyclodic motion. This trajectory was designated the composite cycloid foot trajectory. >