System-Level Design Methodology for a Distributed Electromechanical Actuator in Bio-Inspired Robots

Biological mechanisms are embraced in mobile robots to interact with their environments. Although existing biologically inspired robots perform well, their performance is limited due to the lack of a flexible spine. A vertebrate spine provides agility, a wide range of motion, balance, and efficiency. This paper proposes a system-level design methodology for a distributed and scalable actuator that mimics a robotic spine in the vertical plane. A modified limb design is introduced that significantly improves the torque capability of the distributed actuator.