Paper ID: 2406.13118

Thruster-Assisted Incline Walking

Kaushik Venkatesh Krishnamurthy, Chenghao Wang, Shreyansh Pitroda, Adarsh Salagame, Eric Sihite, Reza Nemovi, Alireza Ramezani, Morteza Gharib

In this study, our aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of thruster-assisted steep slope walking for the Husky Carbon, a quadrupedal robot equipped with custom-designed actuators and plural electric ducted fans, through simulation prior to conducting experimental trials. Thruster-assisted steep slope walking draws inspiration from wing-assisted incline running (WAIR) observed in birds, and intriguingly incorporates posture manipulation and thrust vectoring, a locomotion technique not previously explored in the animal kingdom. Our approach involves developing a reduced-order model of the Husky robot, followed by the application of an optimization-based controller utilizing collocation methods and dynamics interpolation to determine control actions. Through simulation testing, we demonstrate the feasibility of hardware implementation of our controller.

Submitted: Jun 19, 2024