Optimal motion for obstacle stepping in a hybrid wheeled-legged hexapod

This paper presents a methodology for obtaining optimal motions for the leg of a hybrid wheeled-legged hexapod. The aim of the approach is to compare motion strategies for a leg when it has to step over an obstacle. The study is numerically solved by referring to a prototype of a hexapod built at LARM in the Cassino University. The motion planning procedure is a combination of a quick random search algorithm (Rapidly Exploring Random Trees) together with an optimisation method (Genetic Algorithm).