Fault tolerant straight-line gaits of a quadruped robot with feet of flat shape

This paper proposes fault tolerant gaits of a quadruped robot with feet of flat shape. Fault tolerant gaits make it possible for a legged robot to continue static walking against a leg failure. In the previous researches, it was assumed that a legged robot had feet that have point contact with the surface. When the robot is endowed with feet having flat shape, fault tolerant gaits can show better performance compared with the former gaits, especially in terms of the stride length and gait stability. In this paper, fault tolerant gaits of a quadruped robot against a locked joint failure are addressed in straight-line motion and crab walking, respectively.