Virtual Energy Management for Physical Energy Savings in a Legged Robot Hopping on Granular Media.

We discuss an controller to reduce the energetic cost of a single step or jump of dynamic locomotion without changing the morphology of the robot. The active damping controller adds virtual damping to a virtual leg spring created by direct-drive motors through the robot's leg linkage. The virtual damping added is proportional to the intrusion velocity of the robot's foot, slowing the foot's intrusion, and thus the rate at which energy is transferred to and dissipated by the ground.

Reimagining robotic walkers for real-world outdoor play environments with insights from legged robots: a scoping review.

Purpose: For children with mobility impairments, without cognitive delays, who want to participate in outdoor activities, existing assistive technology (AT) to support their needs is limited. In this review, we investigate the control and design of a selection of robotic walkers while exploring a selection of legged robots to develop solutions that address this gap in robotic AT.

Method: We performed a comprehensive literature search from four main databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore.

Examples of Gibsonian Affordances in Legged Robotics Research Using an Empirical, Generative Framework.

Evidence from empirical literature suggests that explainable complex behaviors can be built from structured compositions of explainable component behaviors with known properties. Such component behaviors can be built to directly perceive and exploit affordances. Using six examples of recent research in legged robot locomotion, we suggest that robots can be programmed to effectively exploit affordances without developing explicit internal models of them.

Longitudinal quasi-static stability predicts changes in dog gait on rough terrain.

Legged animals utilize gait selection to move effectively and must recover from environmental perturbations. We show that on rough terrain, domestic dogs, , spend more time in longitudinal quasi-statically stable patterns of movement. Here, longitudinal refers to the rostro-caudal axis.

From the Cover: Sensitive dependence of the motion of a legged robot on granular media.

Legged locomotion on flowing ground (e.g., granular media) is unlike locomotion on hard ground because feet experience both solid- and fluid-like forces during surface penetration.

Mechanical aspects of legged locomotion control.

We review the mechanical components of an approach to motion science that enlists recent progress in neurophysiology, biomechanics, control systems engineering, and non-linear dynamical systems to explore the integration of muscular, skeletal, and neural mechanics that creates effective locomotor behavior. We use rapid arthropod terrestrial locomotion as the model system because of the wealth of experimental data available. With this foundation, we list a set of hypotheses for the control of movement, outline their mathematical underpinning and show how they have inspired the design of the hexapedal robot, RHex.