9 Systematic Method for Kinematics Modeling of Legged Robots on Uneven Terrain

The paper develops a systematic method for kinematics modeling of multi-legged robots for walking on rough terrain. An extended D-H table is proposed for characterizing the robot joints and linkages parameters that capture the motion. The equations of motions are set up using this table for different frames starting from the robot reference frame, going through individual legs and finally reaching feet-terrain contact frames. The composite equation of motion is formed from those of individual legs. The formulation allows determining actuations to various joints for achieving a desired robot motion, while optimizing a performance index such as a stability measure. For illustration, the method is applied to SILO4, an articulated quadruped