Light Weight Quadruped with Nine Actuators

Quadruped robots, which tend to be heavy can be made lighter by carefully considering the number of actuators and required power. This paper discusses the relationship of the moving functions of quadruped locomotion and the required number of actuators. Using fewer actuators than conventionally need not prevent the quadruped robot from satisfactory locomotion. At the same time, energy saving brings a lighter design, because required actuators and batteries are smaller. This paper discusses several techniques to reduce energy consumption. Combining these discussions, examples of 3-, 5-, and 9-actuator quadrupeds are designed, and experimentally performed good locomotion.