Design of a Quadruped Robot with Morphological Adaptation through Reconfigurable Sprawling Structure and Method

Abstract

Morphological adaptation is crucial for animals and robots in navigating unstructured environments. In this article, a quadruped robot with a reconfigurable sprawl posture and posture transformation strategy is proposed, which can transform between different sprawl postures to cope with complex environments and adapt to a dorsal downward fall posture through reverse sprawling. First, the function and structure of the robot are described, including an analysis of the Hawken mechanism's endpoint trajectories and a regional examination of the robot leg's fundamental components, establishing a relationship between the trajectory characteristics and linkage length. Second, the robot posture transformation strategy is analysed, obtaining the geometric dimensional constraints and feasibility regions of the posture transformation. The posture transformation process is quantified, and the robot transformation gait and drive functions are designed. The robot gait and velocity regulation are implemented based on a neural control architecture. Finally, the robot's locomotion and posture transformation are tested using four high‐speed cameras. The results show that the robot can crawl on an inclined surface and continue crawling in a dorsal downward posture post‐fall. Additionally, the robot effectively navigates obstacles and narrow spaces after posture transformation.