Development of adaptive locomotion of a caterpillar-like robot based on a sensory feedback CPG model

This paper presents a novel control mechanism for generating adaptive locomotion of a caterpillar-like robot in complex terrain. Inspired by biological findings in studies of the locomotion of the lamprey, we employ sensory feedback integration for online modulation of the control parameters of a new proposed central pattern generator (CPG). This closed-loop control scheme consists of the following stages: First, touch sensor information is processed and transformed into module states. Then, reactive strategies that determine the mapping between module states and sensory inputs are generated according to an analysis of the module states. Finally, by means of a genetic algorithm, adaptive locomotion is achieved by optimising the amount and speed of sensory input that is fed back to the CPG model. Incorporating the closed-loop controller in a caterpillar-like robot, both simulation and real on-site experiments are carried out. The results confirm the effectiveness of the control system, based on which the robot flexibly adapts to, and manages to crawl across the complex terrain.