Omnidirectional Hexapod Walking and Efficient Gaits Using Restrictedness

The “restrictedness” of a hexapod robot’s legs is the degree to which their free movement is restricted in some way. Using the restrictedness to decide when to lift the legs has previously been shown to allow omnidirectional walking using a free gait as well as a tripod gait during straight-ahead walking. In this paper, we develop the previous system to improve the range of forward walking gaits exhibited by the restrictedness controller to include a range of “wave gaits.” A simplified robot model was used for an off-line search for the optimal restrictedness components for forward walking. Experimental results from the small hexapod “Hamlet” are presented to show the worth of the restrictedness concept and the modeling process.