AUTHOR=Matsumoto Ojiro , Tanaka Hiroaki , Kawasetsu Takumi , Hosoda Koh 

TITLE=High-speed running quadruped robot with a multi-joint spine adopting a 1DoF closed-loop linkage

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2023.1148816

DOI=10.3389/frobt.2023.1148816

ISSN=2296-9144

ABSTRACT=<p>Improving the mobility of robots is an important goal for many real-world applications and implementing an animal-like spine structure in a quadruped robot is a promising approach to achieving high-speed running. This paper proposes a feline-like multi-joint spine adopting a one-degree-of-freedom closed-loop linkage for a quadruped robot to realize high-speed running. We theoretically prove that the proposed spine structure can realize 1.5 times the horizontal range of foot motion compared to a spine structure with a single joint. Experimental results demonstrate that a robot with the proposed spine structure achieves 1.4 times the horizontal range of motion and 1.9 times the speed of a robot with a single-joint spine structure.</p>