A heuristic control framework for heavy-duty hexapod robot over complex terrain

Abstract

The large and heavy-duty hexapod robot has strong motion stability and load capacity, which promises to have a wide range of application prospects in rescue and disaster relief. Multi-mode gait and static stability during walking make the hexapod robot adapt to more diverse terrains, while little research has been conducted on the motion control methods of heavy-duty hexapod robots in complex environments. A novel heuristic whole-body motion control framework for the heavy-duty hexapod robot to traverse complex terrain is presented. By splitting the legged locomotion into a single task, the whole-body motion could be planned in a reasonable time. The terrain adaptation strategy is designed to improve the complex terrain passability. Ground reaction forces are then optimised based on single rigid-body dynamics with heuristics. This framework utilised simple but powerful heuristics to approximate complex dynamics and allows for a single set of parameters for all task conditions. Simulation results demonstrate the robustness and adaptability of the proposed framework.