Kazunori Kaede/Keiichi Watanuki
The Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, vol. 24, no. 1, pp.55-58, 2010

Abstract : This paper describes a three-legged robot that consists of one actuated leg and two passive legs. The active leg has a knee joint and an ankle joint. The passive legs have no knee joint, although they have a passive ankle joint respectively. The passive leg part and the actuated leg part are linked by a hip part. The robot behavior is passive while the robot is supported by its passive legs and swings the actuated leg part. Generally, in the event that an actuator or a transmitting mechanism fails, robots cannot apply torques to the joint. We therefore took up a walking robot with passive knee joints not only for the energy-efficient walking but also with a view to making ambulation failsafe in case of mechanical failures.

Keyword : Failsafe; Passive joint; Underactuated system; Walking robot