Tripod gait using buffer area around leg workspace for flexible direction change

The tripod gait using a buffer area around leg workspace is proposed to improve the mobility of the hexapod robot. The proposed method provides the buffer area for the support leg located near the border of the workspace to make a continuous walking motion when the walking direction is suddenly changed from the current walking direction. The change of direction is frequently occurred in the teleoperation by the operator to adapt to the remote environment and the required tasks. In the case of a fixed workspace, the group of the support leg when it located on the border of the workspace has to stop the motion until the group of the swing leg will reach to a new landing position corresponding to the commanded direction. Since the buffer area is given to the support leg, it can move until the swing leg will land to the new target position for the direction change. In this paper, the buffer area is defined around the workspace so that the trajectory generation method of the direction change of the support leg and the swing leg using the buffer area are implemented. The smooth direction change using the proposed method is shown based on the actual robot parameters.