Continuous locomotion of brachiation robot by behavior phase shift

摘要

In this paper, we propose an extension of a hierarchical behavior controller which achieve dynamically dexterous behavior by shifting behavior phase. A controller for a dynamically dexterous behavior is hard to be designed by using any unsupervised leaning methods, because of enormous searching space. In order to reduce the searching space and its complexity, a hierarchical behavior structure is effective. We have previously proposed a hierarchical behavior controller, which consists of two kinds of modules: behavior coordinator and behavior controller and adaptation algorithm for scaling of behavior outputs. It is applied to the control problem of a seven-link brachiation robot, which moves dynamically from branch to branch like gibbon swinging its body. The robot however does not locomote from branch to branch stably, by adjusting amplitude of two behavior controllers. A hybrid adjusting algorithm with amplitude scaling and phase shifting of behavior outputs is proposed in this paper. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the obtained controller can successfully generate the stably continuous locomotion.