Stimulated by recent biomechanics research of the cheetah, a novel tail controller system for rapid acceleration and braking is presented. To understand the targeted behaviour of a cheetah performing a longitudinal manoeuvre and the effects an actuated tail has, a simple mathematical template was developed. Subsequently feedback controllers were designed based on our hypothesis. Finally, the control system was experimentally tested on a reduced order robot model which increased its manoeuvrability considerably.

Inspired by the cheetah, we present a novel tail control system for manoeuvring terrestrial robots at high speed. The mathematic model for a high-speed turn is derived and the model with a tail is shown to be more successful at rapid turns in simulation. We then built a high speed mobile platform with an actuated tail to experimentally validate the control algorithms. Further controller development is performed based on results of the initial simulations. Finally, we show that by rapidly swinging the tail, our system is capable of turning at much higher speeds than a tail-less version.