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Exploring muscular contribution during stepping of biomimetic feline hindlimbs


Type

Conference Object

Change log

Authors

Rosendo, A 
Nakatsu, S 
Narioka, K 
Hosoda, K 

Abstract

Although robotic locomotion have greatly advanced over the past years, the abyss that separates such locomotion from even the simplest animal locomotions prompt us to approach robotic locomotion taking cues from animals. The animal musculoskeletal structure, often ignored by roboticists due to its high redundancy and complexity, might hold the secret for self-stable locomotion observed in bipeds and quadrupeds. Aiming to better understand how muscles contribute to selfstable locomotion we take the feline structure as a model on a biomimetic approach. Using 6 air muscles per hindlimb to mimic real muscles, this robot walks stably on a treadmill while supported by a slider, simulating forelimbs. We individually evaluate muscle contribution to walking stability, performing a comparison between mono and biarticular synergistic muscles at the ankle and concluding that a higher compliance on the biarticular muscle improved walking stability. A better understanding of such complex phenomena may help on the development of better legged robots in the future, truly taking advantage of concepts developed by nature over the years.

Description

Keywords

4201 Allied Health and Rehabilitation Science, 46 Information and Computing Sciences, 42 Health Sciences, Musculoskeletal

Journal Title

2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2013

Conference Name

2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO)

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

IEEE
Sponsorship
This work was partially supported by KAKENHI Kiban(S) 23220004.