What is it about?
This paper presents the review of the literature of different methods adopted for the optimization of the structure and locomotion gaits of walking robots. Among the distinct possible strategies often used for these tasks are referred approaches such as the mimic of biological animals, the use of evolutionary schemes to find the optimal parameters and structures, the adoption of sound mechanical design rules, and the optimization of power-based indexes.
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Why is it important?
During the last two decades, the research and development of legged locomotion robots has grown steadily. Legged systems present major advantages when compared with “traditional” vehicles because they allow locomotion in inaccessible terrain to vehicles with wheels and tracks. However, the robustness of legged robots, and especially its energy consumption, among other aspects, still lag being mechanisms that use wheels and tracks. Therefore, in the present state of development, there are several aspects that need to be improved and optimized.
Perspectives
Although the referred aspects indicate that legged locomotion is advantageous when compared with traditional locomotion systems, it should be kept in mind that, in their present state of development, these vehicles still suffer from huge limitations, since they exhibit low speeds, are difficult to build and need complex control algorithms. Besides, today’s mechanisms are heavy, since they need a large number of actuators to move multiple DOF legs, to which one should add large energy consumption. It is expected that in the future vehicles adopting locomotion through artificial legs may become an efficient transportation mode, that can compete with other classical transportation means. However, as stated previously, in their present state of development, there are several aspects that have to be improved and optimized.
Professor Manuel F Silva
Porto Polytechnic
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A literature review on the optimization of legged robots, Journal of Vibration and Control, October 2011, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1077546311403180.
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