A rough terrain locomotion controller for an eight-legged demining robot built by K/sup 2/T, Inc. is presented. The method takes inspiration from the behavior of biological organisms to create a robust yet computationally simple controller. Included is a brief description of mechanism based gait control and insect-inspired reflexes for rough terrain locomotion which were previously used to control a hexapod robot with great success. This method is then applied to develop a locomotion controller for the K/sup 2/T crab-like demining robot. In simulation, the resulting controller causes the robot to display successful rough terrain navigation ability including walking over irregular terrain, traversing obstacles on the order of half the tibia length, traversing sparse terrain, and crossing ditches, all without complex sensing or terrain mapping.

This paper describes the design and simulation of a cockroach-like hexapod robot which is under construction for the purpose of testing control principles which are being extracted from the cockroach. The cockroach was chosen because of its remarkable running and climbing capabilities and because much is known about its biomechanics and control. The robot is designed with five, four, and three degrees of freedom in the front, middle and rear legs, respectively, to permit it to mimic the different functions of cockroach legs. Pneumatic cylinders actuate each joint and provide opposing muscle-like forces to actuate the joints. Pulse-width modulation controls the actuators with the necessary smoothness and precision. A dynamic simulation has been developed to predict loads on the structure and the required joint torques.