We report on the development of a robot's dynamic bounding locomotion based on a sagittal plane model that fits the robot's natural dynamics. The proposed model, referred to as the Two-rolling-leg (TRL) model, is a low degree-of-freedom planar rigid-body model with two rolling and compliant legs. The numerical fixed point analyses of the model suggest that with the adequate touchdown conditions of the model, passive dynamic and periodic behaviors of bounding is achievable. The passive dynamic behaviors of the model then serve as a guidance to initiate bounding on a quadruped. The experimental results show that though several un-modeled factors cause the behavioral discrepancy between the TRL model and the robot, the robot can still initiate its dynamic bounding behaviors by mapping the corresponding leg trajectories of the model on the empirical robot using a simple pre-set position control strategy without any state feedback. This work confirms that the complex gait behavior of the robot can be initiated by adopting the simple reduced-order model as the control target for behavioral guidance.

We report on the development of a dynamic gait in a robot based on a sagittal-plane and reduced-order model that fits the natural dynamics of the robot. The proposed model, referred to as the two-rolling-legs model with waist actuation (TRLW), consists of two rolling and compliant legs and two rigid bodies connected by an active waist joint. The numerical fixed-point analyses of the model suggest that with adequate touchdown conditions and waist motion, dynamic and periodic bounding and pronking behaviors of the model are achievable. Several identified fixed points of the model, or passive dynamics of the model, serve as the control guidance to initiate bounding and pronking on a newly-developed quadruped robot. The experimental results show that though several un-modeled factors cause behavioral discrepancies between the TRLW model and the robot, the robot can still initiate its dynamic behaviors by directly mapping the leg trajectories of the model onto those of the robot and via a simple pre-set joint position control strategy, without any other state feedback. This work confirms that the dynamic behavior of the robot can be initiated by using the passive dynamics of the reduced-order model.

We report on a model-based approach for robot design and its dynamic motion generation. A new torque-actuated dissipative spring loaded inverted pendulum model with rolling contact (TDR-SLIP) is proposed to serve as the motion template for the robot. It is a successor to a previously developed spring loaded inverted pendulum model with rolling contact (R-SLIP) model but with embedded energy flow, which has better mapping to empirical robots. The stability properties of the TDR-SLIP model are analyzed, and its stable motion trajectory is implemented on the robot as the control guidance. The robot leg is developed according to the morphology and function of the TDR-SLIP leg, which acts as the design guidance. The proposed model-based approach is experimentally evaluated and finds that the robot is able to exhibit running behavior with various speeds and leg mechanics settings.