ANYmal - a highly mobile and dynamic quadrupedal robot¶
Authors: Marco Hutter, Christian Gehring, Dominic Jud, Andreas Lauber, C. Dario Bellicoso, Vassilios Tsounis, Jemin Hwangbo, Karen Bodie, Peter Fankhauser, Michael Bloesch, Remo Diethelm, Samuel Bachmann, Amir Melzer, Mark Hoepflinger
Published: 2016 (Conference Paper)
Source: 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Algorithm: ANYmal
DOI: 10.1109/IROS.2016.7758092
Summary¶
Abstract¶
This paper introduces ANYmal, a quadrupedal robot that features outstanding mobility and dynamic motion capability. Thanks to novel, compliant joint modules with integrated electronics, the 30 kg, 0.5 m tall robotic dog is torque controllable and very robust against impulsive loads during running or jumping. The presented machine was designed with a focus on outdoor suitability, simple maintenance, and user-friendly handling to enable future operation in real world scenarios. Performance tests with the joint actuators indicated a torque control bandwidth of more than 70 Hz, high disturbance rejection capability, as well as impact robustness when moving with maximal velocity. It is demonstrated in a series of experiments that ANYmal can execute walking gaits, dynamically trot at moderate speed, and is able to perform special maneuvers to stand up or crawl very steep stairs. Detailed measurements unveil that even full-speed running requires less than 280 W, resulting in an autonomy of more than 2 h.