Adaptive Four Legged Locomotion Control Based on Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
Giorgio Brambilla, Jonas Buchli and Auke Ijspeert
Simulation of Adaptive Behavior 2006 (SAB 2006)
Rome, Italy, 25-29 September 2006
Summary
Dynamical systems have been increasingly studied in the last decade for designing locomotion controllers. They offer several advantages over previous solutions like synchronization, smooth transitions under parameter variation, and robustness. In this paper, we present a locomotion controller for four legged robots. The controller is composed of a set of coupled nonlinear dynamical systems. Using our controller the robot is capable of adapting its locomotion to the physical properties of the robot, i.e. the resonant frequency. Our approach aims at developing an on-line learning system that attempts to minimize the energy necessary for the gait. We have implemented the model both on a physical based simulator (Webots) and on a Sony Aibo robot. Our model is supported by a series of experiments which demonstrate how the controller can tune its frequency to the resonant frequency of the robot, and modify it when the weight of the robot is changed.