GENERATION OF DISCONTINUOUS GAITS FOR QUADRUPED WALKING VEHICLES

Discontinuous gaits for walking machines have not yet been properly st udied. Research has focused on the investigation, comprehension, and m athematical formulation of natural gaits. These gaits feature the fact that the body is in constant motion. The results have been significan t, but they seem more adequate for animals than machines. On the other hand, discontinuous gaits, executed by animals under extreme conditio ns, exhibit excellent attributes for implementation in walking machine s. This article presents a comparative study of continuous and discont inuous gaits with regard to their maximum achievable velocity and stab ility. Other aspects such as implementation in real machines, power re quirements, and control under terrain difficulties are mentioned brief ly. An elemental discontinuous gait is stated, and some variations on deriving crab and turning gaits are performed. Different methods for e nlarging the achievable crab angle and improving stability are discuss ed for discontinuous crab gaits. A similar study is also done for turn ing gaits. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.