Fault-Tolerant Tripod Gait Planning and Verification of a Hexapod Robot

Abstract

In some hazardous or inaccessible applications, such as earthquake rescue, as a substitute for mankind, robots are expected to perform missions reliably. Unfortunately, the failure of components is difficult to avoid due to the complexity of robot composition and the interference of the environment. Thus, improving the reliability of robots is a crucial problem. The hexapod robot has redundant degrees of freedom due to its multiple joints, making it possible to tolerate the failure of one leg. In this paper, the Fault-Tolerant Tripod (F-TT) gait dealing with the failure of one leg is researched. The Denavit–Hartenberg (D-H) method is exploited to establish a kinematic model for the hexapod robot, the Jacobian matrix is analyzed, and it is proved that the body can be controlled when three legs are supported. Then, an F-TT gait phase sequence planning method based on a stability margin is established, and a method to improve stability is proposed. The trajectory for the center of gravity (COG) and foot is studied. Finally, a simulation model and prototype robot experiments are developed, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified.