QuadrupedRobot.PDFVIP

IMechE Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering Manuscript of February 2011 Design of HyQ – a Hydraulically and Electrically Actuated Quadruped Robot Claudio Semini*, Nikos G. Tsagarakis, Emanuele Guglielmino, Michele Focchi, Ferdinando Cannella and Darwin G. Caldwell Department of Advanced Robotics, Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy Abstract— A new versatile Hydraulically-powered Quadruped robot (HyQ) has been developed to serve as a platform to study not only highly dynamic motions such as running and jumping, but also careful navigation over very rough terrain. HyQ stands 1 meter tall, weighs roughly 90kg and features 12 torque-controlled joints powered by a combination of hydraulic and electric actuators. The hydraulic actuation permits the robot to perform powerful and dynamic motions that are hard to achieve with more traditional electrically actuated robots. This paper describes design and specifications of the robot and presents details on the hardware of the quadruped platform, such as the mechanical design of the four articulated legs and of the torso frame, and the configuration of the hydraulic power system. Results from the first walking experiments are presented along with test studies using a previously built prototype leg. Key Words— Quadruped Robot Design, Hydraulic Quadruped, Legged Machine, Hydraulic Actuation 1 INTRODUCTION The development of mobile robotic platforms is an important and active area of research. Within this domain, the major focus has been to develop wheeled or tracked systems that cope very effectively with flat and well-structured solid surfaces (e.g. laboratories and roads). In recent years, there has been considerable success with robotic vehicles even for off-road conditions [1]. However, wheeled robots still have