Walking Machines: An Introduction to Legged Robots

Description

The first chapter of this book traces the history of the development of walking machines from the original ideas of man-amplifiers and military rough-ground transport to today's diverse academic and industrial research and development projects. It concludes with a brief account of research on other unusual methods of locomotion. The heart of the book is the next three chapters on the theory and engineering of legged robots. Chapter 2 presents the basics of land loco­ motion, going on to consider the energetics of legged movement and the description and classification of gaits. Chapter 3, dealing with the mechanics of legged vehicles, goes into leg number and arrangement, and discusses mechanical design and actuation methods. Chapter 4 deals with analysis and control, describing the aims of control theory and the methods of modelling and control which have been used for both highly dynamic robots and multi-legged machines. Having dealt with the theory of control it is necessary to discuss the computing system on which control is to be implemented. This is done in Chapter 5, which covers architectures, sensing, algorithms and pro­ gramming languages. Chapter 6 brings together the threads of the theory and engineering discussed in earlier chapters and summarizes the current walking machine research projects. Finally, the applications, both actual and potential, of legged locomotion are described. Introduction Research into legged machines is expanding rapidly. There are several reasons why this is happening at this particular time. Front Matter....Pages 1-7 Introduction....Pages 9-10 A brief history of walking machines....Pages 11-33 General principles of legged locomotion....Pages 35-61 The mechanics of legged vehicles....Pages 63-89 The analysis and control of legged systems....Pages 91-130 Computing: hardware and software requirements....Pages 131-150 Current developments....Pages 151-168 Applications of walking machines....Pages 169-177 Back Matter....Pages 179-190