17 March 2025
Quadrupedal animals show remarkable capabilities in traversing diverse terrains and display a range of behaviours and gait patterns. Achieving similar performance by exploiting the natural dynamics of the system is a key goal for robotics researchers.
Using this approach, EMERGE partners from the Delft University of Technology develop PAWS, passive automata with synergies, a legged system with synergistic actuation that uses four actuators to control its 12 degrees of freedom. By leveraging the principles of motor synergies, the design incorporates variable stiffness, anatomical insights and self-organization to simplify control while maximizing its capabilities. The resulting synergy-based quadruped requires only four actuators and exhibits emergent, animal-like dynamical responses, including passive robustness to environmental perturbations and a wide range of actuated behaviours. The finding contributes to the development of machine physical intelligence and provides robots with more efficient and natural-looking robotic locomotion by combining synergistic actuation, compliant body properties, and embodied compensatory strategies.
Read the paper in the link below.
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