Development of a Quadruped Walking Entertainment Robot with Gravitationally Decoupled Actuation -Design of Single leg test rig-

Mammalia entertainment robots are popular due to their friendly appearance; however, examples of robots that walk solely on their legs are limited because of high power consumption. In this study, we propose a mammal electric quadruped robot that employs Gravitationally Decoupled Actuation (GDA) to enable high-speed locomotion while minimizing power consumption. For GDA evaluation, a one-legged test machine was designed and fabricated based on the results of a dynamics simulator. In designing the monopod testing machine, we proposed a space-saving design and lightweighting techniques for parts, taking into account the characteristics of the GDA that requires numerous fixed components.