Environmental Characterization and Path Planning for Legged Robots Considering Foot-terrain Interaction

XU Peng, DING Liang, GAO Haibo, ZHOU Ruyi, LI Nan, DENG Zongquan
2020 Journal of Mechanical Engineering  
Abstract:During the walking of a legged robot, the interactions between its end of feet and the terrain strongly affect the traversability of the robot. Foot-terrain interaction is closely related to the geometry of the terrain surface and the physical characteristics of it. Therefore, path planning based on geometric map alone is difficult to meet the demand of avoiding non-geometric hazards such as soft sand in the wild. To solve this problem, an environment model including geometric and
more » ... cal characteristics is proposed in consideration of foot-terrain interaction for path planning of legged robots. By simplifying and unifying the foot-terrain interaction model under soft and rigid terrain, parameterized indexes characterizing the normal softness and tangential friction characteristics of the terrain are proposed, and a more comprehensive environment model is constructed by combining geometric characteristics and the proposed physical characteristics. Comprehensively considering the ground geometric and physical characteristics affecting the robot's traversability, the optimization target of path planning is reconstructed and the optimal path is planned for legged robots with graph search algorithm. Simulation and experiments with the hexapod robot Elspider verified that the proposed method can effectively avoid non-geometric hazards and plan a safer and more reliable path to traverse. Key words:environmental characterization;physical characteristics;legged robot;path planning 0 前言 * 足式机器人可离散地选取落足点在环境中通 行,具备良好的运动灵活性和地形适应能力,其相  国家自然科学基金优秀青年科学基金(51822502)、国家自然科学基金重 大研究计划重点支持项目(91948202) 、"跃升计划" (HIT.BRETIV.201903)和"111 计划"(B07018)资助项目。20200212 收 到初稿,20200520 收到修改稿
doi:10.3901/jme.2020.23.021 fatcat:hdsz72olufbdrl5l44hav3uy4y