On the Dynamic Stability of Legged Locomotion Systems

摘要

While legged locomotion is obviously very efficient and versatile and is widely encountered in nature, only limited success has been attained in constructing legged vehicles. The failure of such vehicles to appear is to a large extent due to the lack of a well developed mathematical theory of legged locomotion. Another manifestation of this lack is the absence of electronically controlled lower extremity prostheses and orthotic devices. The prupose of this paper is to summarize the available body of theoretical knowledge relating to stability and control in legged machines and animals and to suggest areas where additional research ought to be undertaken. The paper includes a discussion of a hierarchy of mathematical models beginning with finite state models and concluding with rigid body dynamics. Some new results on balancing mechanisms for inherently unstable systems are also included. (Author)