In this paper, we present an energy-conservation based control architecture for stable dynamic motion in quadruped robots. We model the robot as a Spring-loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP), a model well-suited to represent the bouncing motion characteristic of running gaits observed in various biological quadrupeds and bio-inspired robotic systems. The model permits leg-orientation control during flight and leg-length control during stance, a design choice inspired by natural quadruped behaviors and prevalent in robotic quadruped systems. Our control algorithm uses the reduced-order SLIP dynamics of the quadruped to track a stable parabolic spline during stance, which is calculated using the principle of energy conservation. Through simulations based on the design specifications of an actual quadruped robot, Ghost Robotics Minitaur, we demonstrate that our control algorithm generates stable bouncing gaits. Additionally, we illustrate the robustness of our controller by showcasing its ability to maintain stable bouncing even when faced with up to a 10% error in sensor measurements.

翻译：本文提出了一种基于能量守恒的控制架构，用于实现四足机器人的稳定动态运动。我们将机器人建模为弹簧负载倒立摆（SLIP），该模型能有效表征多种生物四足动物及仿生机器人系统中观察到的奔跑步态弹跳运动特性。该模型允许在腾空阶段控制腿部朝向，在支撑阶段控制腿部长度，这一设计灵感源于自然四足行为，并广泛存在于机器人四足系统中。我们的控制算法利用四足机器人降阶SLIP动力学，在支撑阶段跟踪通过能量守恒原理计算的稳定抛物线样条轨迹。基于实际四足机器人Ghost Robotics Minitaur的设计参数进行仿真实验，结果表明该控制算法能生成稳定的弹跳步态。此外，通过展示控制器在传感器测量存在高达10%误差时仍能维持稳定弹跳的能力，验证了其鲁棒性。