Control of quadruped robots

The main advantage of legged robots is the capability to move through complicated and challenging terrains. A powerful tool for robust control and disturbance rejection is the momentum-based observer due to its simple structure and high performance. The work in here presents an estimator of external disturbances for legged robots, based on the system’s momentum. The estimator, along with a suitable motion planner for the trajectory of the robot’s center of mass and an optimization problem based on the modulation of ground reaction forces, devises a whole-body controller for the robot. The designed solution is tested on a quadruped robot within a dynamic simulation environment. The quadruped is stressed by external disturbances acting on stance and swing legs indifferently.