Power system of a multi-legged walking robot

Abstract The power system of a legged vehicle is considerably more complex than the one used by a conventional land vehicle because of the wide range of power demands and the coordination and stability issues due to the large number of degrees of freedom. This paper is concerned with the conceptual and physical characteristics of the power system of a rough terrain, six-legged, walking vehicle. Modelling techniques and detailed analytical and simulation models are developed for the vehicle power system consisting of the prime mover, energy storage system, mechanical drives, hydraulic actuation systems and the associated control systems. Dynamics of the various subsystem and their interactions have been studied for control and optimization purposes. Validation of the models is provided by several experiments performed on a prototype leg and the vehicle.