Biologically-inspired adaptive obstacle negotiation behavior of hexapod robots.

ABSTRACT: Neurobiological studies have shown that insects are able to adapt leg movements and posture for obstacle negotiation in changing environments. Moreover, the distance to an obstacle where an insect begins to climb is found to be a major parameter for successful obstacle negotiation. Inspired by these findings, we present an adaptive neural control mechanism for obstacle negotiation behavior in hexapod robots. It combines locomotion control, backbone joint control, local leg reflexes, and neural learning. While the first three components generate locomotion including walking and climbing, the neural learning mechanism allows the robot to adapt its behavior for obstacle negotiation with respect to changing conditions, e.g., variable obstacle heights and different walking gaits. By successfull

SUBMITTER: Goldschmidt D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3905219 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature