AN ADAPTIVE GAIT FOR LEGGED WALKING MACHINES OVER ROUGH TERRAIN

An adaptive gait algorithm for multilegged walking machines over rough terrain has been developed. The heuristic and hierarchical approach f or the three levels of 1) body motion adaptation, 2) leg sequence adap tation, and 3) leg position adaptation is effective, straightforward, and relatively independent of the number of legs. On rough terrains wi th depressions the algorithm behaves like a ''free gait''; on level gr ound terrain it behaves more like a periodic gait. ne effectiveness of the proposed gait over rough terrains with depressions is demonstrate d with several computer simulations.