Turning Gait Planning and Simulation Validation of a Hydraulic Hexapod Robot

Gait planning is an important part of robotics research, and turning gait is an important and useful walking gait of a hexapod robot. But researches on turning gait of hexapod robots are limited. This paper presents the structure of a hydraulic hexapod walking robot. The coordinate of the leg is defined, and the positive and inverse kinematic equation of the leg is established. Foot trajectory based on cycloid during swing phase is planned, and the foot trajectory of support phase is also planned. A turning gait can be divided into the first half cycle and the second half cycle, and the turning gait based on tripod gait of the hexapod robot is planned. A virtual simulation platform for the hexapod robot is developed based on Vortex software. The platform consists of robot model module, manipulator and control module, terrain model module and foot-terrain interaction module. The simulation process is presented, and the turning gait is realized on the simulation platform. Finally, the simulation results show that the foot trajectory curves and the joint angle curves are smooth, and there is no conflict between the curves of six legs. The rationality and feasibility of the proposed method has been verified.