Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Information Acquisition

July 9-11, 2007, Jeju City, Korea

Modeling and Robust Control of Quadruped Robot*

Lei Sun' 2,Yajing Zhoul, Wanming Chen" 2, Huawei Liang 1,Tao Meil

1. Centerfor Biomimetic Sensing and Control Research

Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
2.University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230021, China
( sunustc@ 126.com )

Abstract - The 9-Link dynamic model of a quadruped robot

is built with Lagrangian method. Building the model from system
view . Simplify the control of a quadruped robot under the four
legs full supporting as the problems of tracking control of the
truck motion, and the simple model is give. The motion of the

control performance. Secondly, motion of a quadruped robot

under the four legs full support can be regarded as a dynamic
system under holonomic constraint, and this make the control
more complicated. Robust control maybe a suitable method to
solve the problems, but the literatures that use robust control
to control the quadruped robot is sparse. The paper build the
motion model of a quadruped robot from system view, and

method is effective when used on the quadruped robot under full

supporting.

simplify the control of a quadruped robot under the four legs

full supporting as the problems of tracking control of the truck
motion, and gives the simple model based on it. The robust
control method is used to control the robot under four legs full
support and settle the influence that brought by the external

robot under four legs full supporting is controlled by robust

control. Settling the effect of the external disturbance act on the
quadruped robot. Simulation shows that the robust control

Index Terms - Quadruped robot, robust control, Lagrangian,

full support.
I. INTRODUCTION

Walking machine has the advantage over the wheeled

machine in that it used but the isolated point to support the
trunk not the continuous terrain that is needed by wheeled
machine. It can get steady walking on uneven terrain and
avoid the obstacle by keeping clear of it, and can get
omnidirectional motion by keeping the terrain intact It can
climb stair, stride brook, trudge swamp. Walking machine can
choose the effective stand point on the badly terrain. So it can
find stable standpoint even on the rugged mountain.
All of the advantages make the walking robot become a
important study branch in the robot studying field. Because
the quadruped robot has more carrying capacity and good
stability than the biped robot, and has the more simple
structure than the 6-legged robot and 8-legged robot. So
quadruped robot arouse extensive attention. Takashi studied
the attitude control of a quadruped robot during two legs
supporting [1]. He simplified the quadruped robot as a
reaction-wheel type inverted pendulum, and the trunk is
regarded as the reaction-wheel, and the supporting legs as the
inverted pendulum. But the reaction-wheel type inverted
pendulum model is too simple to describe the quadruped
system in that the quadruped robot is a complicated motion
system. Costas Tzafestas adopt the adaptive impedance
method to solve the model error and uncertain parameters of
the quadruped system [2]. B.W.Choi discussed the motion
plan of a quadruped system. The fuzzy control method is used
to control the motion of a quadruped robot by Duane W,
David E.Orin and Luther R.Palmer[4],[5],[6]. Many
researchers pay attention to the quadruped robot gaits [9],[10].
A quadruped robot with Multi-degrees of freedoms is a high
nonlinear system. Firstly, sometimes the uncertain parameters
and the external disturbance apply a very adverse effect on the

disturbance.

II. DYNAMIC MODEL

A. Mechanical Design
The quadruped robot TIM-i has been designed for the
study of home robotic pets. It must look like a pet dog and it
has the nurse ability and can carry a payload.
So we designed a quadruped robot showed in Fig. 1, the
quadruped robot is 505mm height, 570mm length and 250mm
is Kg. The weigh of a leg is
width, the gross weight of body 1K
2Kg. So the total weight is 18Kg. Twelve DOF (Degree of
Freedom) distribute in four legs averagely. Eight DOF are set
in four hip joints and four knee joints; four passive DOF are
set in ankle joints to accommodate badly terrain using the
spring mechanism fixed on the bottom of foot.
The hip joints of the four legs are driven by a 15 Watt
Maxon 236655 DC servo motor, reducing the speed directly
by planetary gear reducer box (reduction ration:50:1). To
measure the turn angle and angular velocity of motor, the
photoelectric encoder (Maxon 110514) is used. The four knee
joints are driven by a 20 Watt Maxon 236669 DC servo motor,
reducing the speed by the planetary gear reducer
box(reduction ration:100:1), and the photoelectric encoders
are identical to those of the hip joints. The inclinometer is to
measure the deflection angle between the robot's stance and
ground. To get the home position of the joint the limit switch
is set. Every foot of the robot is equipped by a touch switch in
order to make sure the robot's foot has contacted the ground.

This work is partially supported by National Science Fund of China [Grant NO.50275 141 and 60475027].

1-4244-1220-X/07/$25 .OO

C2007 IEEE

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B. Dynamic model

.....

.x ): 1to.o .leg. .

In most literatures, the simple inverted pendulum model is

used to analyze the dynamic properties of a quadruped robot,
or only built the model of a leg of the robot. The methods are
too simple fa quad uped ro ot, and some properties ofhthe
quadruped cannot get from the inverted pendulum model and
th inerae
moe. So this paper bui thhemode and
n
one-eg
esin
the qdrobot
..s
aar w en.
M=g. .1..............a ayFig.2
is the schematic of the quadruped robot model. It
consists of nine links, torso (link 3) and two links in each
leg(thigh i anshank) The nie lis are conectdvia eig
rotating joints: four hip joints and four knee joints, which are
.
v
angle link with respect to
.regarded to be iction fee an eac joint is driven by an
m
c
a
.................
ndwent D mtqr. Theafour legs
.i
moment of inertia and length of the four thighs and four
shanks are identical.
Fig.ntthe robot TIM-i

...M..
......... ....._
-

....- 2 - E

......

q,0

angle
of link wit repc6oth

etcl

lowe jont.velcites,acclertios ad trqus, espctiely

Sups th6n onso h ou escnatwt h
grondwhn hequdrpe rbotisunerth furles ul

35

modelollws

robot
the
quadruped
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fg2shmtcof

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"sin

+/2 shO2 +4sinO4+5 sinO5-

1/ COS 1 +/2 COS02 -14 COS

Where Li is the distance between leg i+1 and 1, so

differentiate (2), we get equation (3):

COSO5 =0

4 -I5

sin60+2ls2sin2 + sinO3 -16 sin06-b7 s 2n7-L2=O (2)

I
cosO1 +/2 cosO2 +4 cosO03 -

06 -b7 cosO7 = 0
sinO +bg sinOg -L 0
/I Sil +/2 Sil2 +13 SiO3+8
3
8-g O8
cos

S8 +1

S2 +3 C

-89O

/cos0j +/2 cosO2 +4 cosO0-l, cosO0 -bg cosO0 = 0

11COS61

2lCoS2

14cos64 lcos65
14sin64 1/sin60

0
-11sin60 -12sin02
854l l1cos6l
11CS1
1242cos62 43cos63
13
ao -1/sin60 -12sin02 -13sin63
CO

0
0
0
0
0

CO

CO
llcos6l
11 CO1 l2cos62
12 CO
13lcos63
-/1sin60 -12sin02 -13sin63
2

166

+ H(O,6).

+G()=JT())L+I

~~(DO() O
Where N(O,) =H(O,)0 +G(O).
U

(4)

177 CO737

CO

6
6

0
0

(3)

0
0
lcos69
l8cos68
8 CO8 19
CO9

/9sin06

1lsin6

P =R6 P=R6+R6

(7)

There is

iJ

(R>

t0)

(J>

0=

J)

(8)

(A

O0)

J)

Combining (5),(6),(7) and (8),yields

(5)

In order to achieve the stable control of the quadruped

robot under full support, controlling all of the links to track
the anticipant track is the best way. But the quadruped system
is a multiple variable position control system, the controller
will become more complicated if control all the states. So a
simple method must be adopted to achieve a simple
controller. Suppose the end points of the four legs contact
with the ground when the quadruped robot is under the four
legs full support, and that no slippage between the end points
and the ground. In this situation, the motion of the quadruped
robot can be described by the motion of the trunk (link 3). The
similar method proposed in [7] is used, and there is:

p= (X3, _V,

0
0

Where A is 6 xl Lagrangian multipliers, J is 6x9

Jacobian matrix: J = acP / a3, so the dynamic equation of
the quadruped robot under full support is as follows:

)J)jT (O)A + T
(D(SS0 N(S
D(O)
N(O S)=

16sin06 17sin67

0
0
0

Lagrangian dynamic equation of the quadruped robot

under full support is as follows:

D(O)

)T=)

0+ sin6 (6)
().
COS 03
1, COS 01+I)2 COS 02 + a, cosa)
in
+Isi
a3 Sln 83
Sln
1l
11
12 Sl:n 02 + a3
81+

Ris 3X9matrix, andR =

+= J J1

)+

F11,3x3 F2,3x6

F= F
21,6x3

E=

s=

11D (T-N+JTA)]
AR

22,6x6)

(E31,3xs (RD-'
YE2,6x9) JD-)
S

1,3x6

D-'

jT

6x6) jD'jT j(0

{P=]tik+E6(T-N)+S)i

From (9), S2,

(10), there is

0O = F2.1k+E2(T-N) +S2A.

P/ O, yieds

(9)

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o)
(11)

From the second equation in ( 1),

can be got, and

(17)

X2

Lx2 =(-1- B)x, + (1+ B)x2 + Cu + Cd

(1),Choosing the Lyapunov function

- SIS2 lF)P + (El - SIS2 lE)(T -N)
V = (xT x, + XTC' x2 ) / 2

Then i is put into the first equation in

P=
= BP+C(T-N)

Differentiate (18), there is:

Where

B=F1I-SlS2

2I ,C=E

V=-xl X1 +x2 [C'(x2-x)+(-C'B+1)x1 +u+d]

From robust control theory we know that

hrs0)

if V.<

-SS2
Frm(

From (12),there is:

C-'P -C-'BP + CN = T

III. DESIGN OF ROBUST CONTROLLER

The basic feature of robust control is using a controller
that the structure and parameters maintain fixed no matter
than the external disturbance is the worst, but the control
performance is not influenced by it [8]. The dynamic equation
of a quadruped robot including the external disturbance is as
follows:

PdI Pd and Pd denote the desired trajectory, and there is:

e = P-Pd, e = P-Pd, e = - d is the position error, speed

error and the acceleration error. In order to describe the robust

~~~~p1e 1

H=V+z

-y2 Ild

A robust control scheme is designed as

u=-C-'(x2-xI)+C-'BxI-x1+2p2>X1-kx2
H =- x X+ XT u

(19)

||Zl1

-y

Ild||

d + Cl (x2- x,) - C 'Bx, + x,]

=-X XI +X2 [u + d + C (X2-x) -C'Bx1 + xl]

2

112 + p2
+ P2

y2

1d

-y

+XT Lu - C' (x2 - X) + C'Bx

The nonlinear compensate is

- 2p2 XI2+ (

(15)

From (14), (15), there is

JX2 -X -1 lldl
2

2-(1-pXpI)112

Where p1 and p2 are the positive value and p . O, P2 . 0 .

- C-1B =u + d

d dt

And setting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~+PI X1

LI2ei2

u + C-Pd - C-'BPd +CN=T

d < 2 J'T

From [8], there is

(14)

Where d is the external disturbance signal.

performance, there is following evaluation signal:

, then e= =O is the robust

for any disturbance signal d.

(13)

ClP - C'BP + CN = T + d

d2-Id-||Zl1

asymptotical stability point, and there is following equation

(13) is the simplified model of the quadruped robot when it is

2
under full support. Compare with (5), it is simpler.

(18)

2 + P22 )x2]

4;/2

Put (19) into the above equation, there is:

(16)

xl = e, X2 = e+e, (16) transform to:

359
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-x,

H=-(1-p,2-

2) x1

[-kx2

+x

+(

4y

12

0.'

2+p )X2]

ttkP iti

So there is

H._(-pl
H<

-[
2

-p2 2 ) x

_2

(1 2+p2 )] ||X 2

1kX2

21

2l

Xi

Fig.3 the position tracking error

Where is any2
enough small2~~~4y
positive real number. So to any
external disturbance d, there is:

V. CONCLUTION
The paper build the motion model of a quadruped robot
from system view, and simplify the control of a quadruped
H <0,Vtx1 .0,VtX2 .0
robot under the four legs full supporting as the problems of
tracking control of the truck motion, and gives the simple
So tereis >0,
F he olloingequtionis enale.model based on it. The robust control method is used to
control the robot under four legs full support and settle the
influence that brought by the external disturbance.

From Lyapuonve stable theory, the system is stable and has

the ability of resisting disturbance.

simulation is

in Matlab
implemented
1 1
r 11

parameters ofthe quadruped robot are as fOllOWS:

f1

X12

a1

1/=

6e

= M

a2

a4

7
7

/l
8

a6

6.5.

is

y =0.3m,6 = 0x =0.1t(0 .t .1s)

M.J.Chung

and

Z.Bien."Development

of

software

Renvironment
for the kinematic analysis of a quadruped robot." IEEE/RSJ
198.

robots and systems,1989,pp:193[4] Duane W. Marhefka and David E.Orin."Fuzzy control of quadrupedal

= a7 = a8 = = = 0. lm

P = (X, y, 6)

178.

B.W.Choi and

international workshop

0.5kg

II I2 I4 = I5 = I6 = I7 = I8 = Ig = 0.001kg m
in3 = 2kg, 13 = 0.5m, a3 = 0.25m, I3 = 0.012kg. m333
In experiments, k = 4 , the sampling time is Ims, the
trajectory

~~~~~~~~Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'95) 1995,pp:173[3]

desired

control applied to a legged robot.. Proceedings 1995 IEEE International

The

0.2m

A= O= E= E= ME
a5

[1] TakashiEMURA and Akira ARAKAWA."Attitude control of a

quadruped robot during two legs supporting". Proceeding of 5th
Intenational.
Conference.
[2] Costas Tzafestas,
Marinaon Advanced
Guihard. Robotics.
Two-stage1991l,pp:71
adaptive 1-7 16.

impedance

I.SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS

The

REFERENCES

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(in

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360
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