Gait Transition to Spinning Gait and Fewer-Legged Walking for Hexapod Robot Based on FCP Gait Control

This paper proposes gait transition methods for hexapod robots based on Follow-the-Contact-Point (FCP) gait control. In the original FCP gait control, each leg contacts on the same position where the foreleg contacts. As the result, propagating the contact points from front to back, a robot walks forward. In this paper, we propose algorithms to change the direction of contact point propagation and the number of legs used for walking to switch the gait in FCP gait control. The propagation direction is governed by the adjacent information that determine legs with which exchange the contact point. Usage types of the legs manage the number of legs used for walking. By regulating the adjacent information and usage types of the legs, the robot can change its gait between forward and spinning gaits, and among four, five, and six-legged gaits. In addition, multiple local controls are installed in each leg to adjust the leg motion. Results of experiments show that the proposed method enables a hexapod robot to change its gait on rough terrain.