MIT Cheetah 3: Design and Control of a Robust, Dynamic Quadruped Robot
Author(s)
Bledt, Gerardo; Powell, Matthew J.; Katz, Benjamin; Di Carlo, Jared; Wensing, Patrick M.; Kim, Sangbae; ... Show more Show less
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This paper introduces a new robust, dynamic quadruped, the MIT Cheetah 3. Like its predecessor, the Cheetah 3 exploits tailored mechanical design to enable simple control strategies for dynamic locomotion and features high-bandwidth proprioceptive actuators to manage physical interaction with the environment. A new leg design is presented that includes proprioceptive actuation on the abduction/adduction degrees of freedom in addition to an expanded range of motion on the hips and knees. To make full use of these new capabilities, general balance and locomotion controllers for Cheetah 3 are presented. These controllers are embedded into a modular control architecture that allows the robot to handle unexpected terrain disturbances through reactive gait modification and without the need for external sensors or prior environment knowledge. The efficiency of the robot is demonstrated by a low Cost of Transport (CoT) over multiple gaits at moderate speeds, with the lowest CoT of 0.45 found during trotting. Experiments showcase the ability to blindly climb up stairs as a result of the full system integration. These results collectively represent a promising step toward a platform capable of generalized dynamic legged locomotion.
Date issued
2019-01Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceJournal
IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Citation
Bledt, Gerado et al. "MIT Cheetah 3: Design and Control of a Robust, Dynamic Quadruped Robot." IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, October 2018, Madrid Spain, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, January 2019. © 2018 IEEE
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISBN
9781538680940
ISSN
2153-0866