DYNAMIC CONTROL OF A QUADRUPED STANDING J U M P

WO Cheung (Eric) Wong

David E. Orin

FANUC Robotics North America, Inc.

2000 South Adams Road
Auburn Hills, Michigan 48326

Department of Electrical Engineering

The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43210

Abstract

monopods and bipeds where the leg actuators are arranged such that the linear and angular motions of the
body are mostly decoupled, thus simplifying the control. On the other hand, the legs of a quadruped are
located far from the center of mass of the body, causing
coupled angular and linear body motions, complicating the control of jumping. To more fully realize the
potential of a quadruped in negotiating obstacles, the
control of one type of quadruped jump, namely the
standing jump as illustrated in Fig. 1, will be investigated in this paper.

I n this paper control strategies are developed for a

quadruped standing jump ouer irregular terrain obstacles. Simple open-loop leg forces are planned to
remoue the large linear and angular momentum of
the body during landing. Super real-time simulation,
which involves predicting landing conditions based on
simulation using a simplified model, is used to select
leg touchdown angles. Using the principle of symmetry, the leg forces during take08 are derived f r o m
those predicted for landing. Using these strategies, the
quadruped is able to clear a variety of obstacles including isolated walls, terrain steps, and ditches.

Simulation Model

Raibert et al. pioneered the development of a number

of legged machines which balance actively [3,9, 10, 111.
Telescoping and springy legs are used to conserve energy and simplify control. Similar leg mechanisms as
in [I21 are used in this study. Since the components
of force and motion of an animal perpendicular to the
plane of motion during jumping are usually relatively
small [13], a planar model as shown in Fig. 2 is chosen
to study jumping only in the sagittal plane. The parameters of the model are chosen to simulate a large
dog and they are given in [14].
The Decoupled Tree-Structure (DTS) Approach [15]
is used to derive the dynamic equations of motion for
the planar quadruped and they are given in [14]. Full
inertial effects of each leg as well as the compliant
effects of the terrain-foot interaction are simulated .

Introduction

During the past several decades, researchers have built

numerous legged machines to study the principles of
legged locomotion [l, 2, 31. It is of particular interest to demonstrate their superiority over wheeled
or tracked vehicles during locomotion over obstacles
which are comparable in size to their dimensions.
Some examples are: ditches, isolated walls, and vertical steps [4].
In statically stable machines, the general approach
h a s been designing gaits for crossing these terrain conditions [4]. These gaits typically involve complex maneuvers of the body and legs. Thus, the motion often
tends to be rather slow. Further, they may not be applicable for certain obstacles such as wide ditches, thin
isolated walls, or large vertical steps. The limitation is
mainly due to the restrictions imposed upon the body
and leg motions by the condition of static stability.
On the other hand, it was observed that animals
usually jump over obstacles [ 5 , 61. This suggests that
an alternative and potentially better strategy to negotiate obstacles is to jump over them, thus ignoring the
local effects of terrain irregularities between successive
footholds.
Over the last decade, significant progress has been
made in controlling dynamically stable legged machines to hop, run, and perform somersaults [3, 7, 81.
Studies of jumping have mainly been focused on

Phases of Standing Jump

A computer graphic simulation of a quadruped standing jump over an isolated wall of 0.9 m is shown in
Fig. 1. The simulation is run off-line on a SPARCstation and then displayed on a GE Graphicon workstation. Motion traces of the body center of mass and the
feet are also shown. The terrain is divided into 0.5m
by 0.5m grids.
The basic motion sequence of a standing jump may
be divided into three phases: takeoff, flight and landing. Both the takeoff and the landing phases may further be divided into a single contact stage (frame b

346

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(d) Flight

(a) Takeoff Front Leg Thrust

m
(b) Takeoff Back Leg Thrust

(f) Landing

(c) Flight

Figure 1: Standing J u m p Over an Isolated Wall of 0.9m.

347

the actual body landing angle.

Landing Control Strategy

t
=2l

Figure 2: Planar Quadruped Model

during takeoff and frame e during landing) and a double contact stage (frame a during takeoff and frame f
during landing) depending on the number of legs on
the ground.
During takeoff, it is important to thrust the
quadruped into the air with initial flight conditions
such that it not only clears the obstacle but the body
does not under or over-rotate during flight. These conditions are the body takeoff angle, body angular takeoff velocity, body vertical takeofl velocity, and the body
horizontal takeoff velocity. They will determine the
body angle during landing. If the body is pitched too
much, then control of landing may be difficult and loss
of balance will result. Although the body angular velocity during flight may be adjusted by swinging the
legs or varying their lengths, such motion may be limited because the legs have other functions to perform
such as obstacle clearance and preparation for landing.
Two important parameters that characterize the
flight phase are the jumping height and the flight span.
The jumping height is the vertical distance of the body
c.0.m. at the top of flight from the takeoff level, while
the flight span is the horizontal distance the body
c.0.m. travels from the time the back leg lifts off during
takeoff to the time the front leg touches down during
landing. Leg motions are planned to maximize clearance during flight and stability during landing. The
detailed planning of leg motions during flight is discussed in [14].
During landing, the large amounts of linear and angular momentum of the body have to be removed as
it moves to a stable standing posture on the same
footholds on which it lands. Further, the landing control strategy must be robust enough t o accommodate
a moderate variation in the landing level which affects

In this paper, the landing control strategy involves

planning open-loop and simple nominal leg forces and
leg touchdown angles to remove the large linear and
angular momentum of the body. During the single
contact stage, the front leg force removes the linear
momentum of the body along the front leg axis, regardless of its effects on the body angular momentum.
Then, during the double contact stage, the back leg
force removes the body angular momentum while the
front leg force maintains a constant front leg length.
To simplify force planning, no hip torque is used when
a leg is on the ground. In fact, it was observed in
goat locomotion studies that the knee plays a more
significant role in jumping than the hip [13]. In any
event, hip torque may be used in future approaches
and should make the control even more robust.
The natural dynamics of the system are considered
when planning the leg forces. However, the equations
of motion of the planar quadruped are still rather complex for control development. As the Nubian goat locomotion studies indicate that the inertial effects of
the torso dominate those of the lower extremities [13],
a simplified model shown in Fig. 3 is used for control
synthesis. It consists of a rigid body with two point
masses at the hips, thus ignoring the inertial effects of
the legs.

Figure 3: Simplified Planar Quadruped Model.

4.1

Single Contact Stage

If the body linear momentum along the front leg axis

is known, the front leg force may then be planned to
remove this linear momentum over a defined period of

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time. That is,

fl

where

dt = A(mw)
-

A(mi\

I
I

Single Contact

ront leg actuator force, and

ehange in body linear momentum
along the front leg axis.

syinghnasdhperdynmi~~

f,

c /

An outline of the force planning is given below, with

the force profile and its parameters illustrated in
Fig. 4 .

fd

f,

1. Upon touchdown, the front leg force is allowed to

build up to a threshold value f l t h as the body
compresses the leg spring/damper.

Double Contact

I
I
I

i'i ;pf-h;.--------

--

-I------+

+ t

2. The leg force is then maintained at the threshold

value for a period of time A t 2 = t 2 - t l to remove
a major portion of the linear momentum.
3. The remaining momentum will be removed as the
actuator force is ramped down to a value fcl over
a period of time A t 3 = t 3 - t 2 .
4 . The leg force is then held at the value fft to maintain a relatively constant leg length until the back
leg touches down.

Figure 4: Leg Actuator Force Profiles for the Two

Contact Stages of Landing.

During this stage, the front leg force also creates a

moment on the body, increasing the angular momentum of the body. This momentum will be removed in
the double contact stage.

2. Both the front and the back leg forces are held at
their constant values over a period of time, A t 6 =
t 6 - t 5 , to remove a major portion of the body
angular momentum while maintaining a relatively
constant front leg length.

Double Contact Stage

4.2

In this stage, the front leg force maintains a relatively

constant leg length, thus pivoting the body about the
front hip. The back leg force then removes the angular
momentum over a defined time. That is,

/
where

M dt = A(I&)

A(I&) =

3. The remaining portion of the angular momentum is removed as both the front and the back
leg forces are ramped down to a nominal final force value of 0.5 m g over a period of time
A t 7 = t 7 - t 6 . Each leg then supports half the
quadruped's weight.

(2)

moment of the back leg actuator

force about the front hip, and
change in body angular momentum
about the front hip.

The force levels and time intervals of the force profiles in Fig. 4 are derived in [14].

4.3

Landing Preparation Stage

During flight, the legs are servoed to the appropriate touchdown angles in preparation for landing. This
stage is called the landing preparataon stage. The leg
touchdown angles are chosen to remove the forward
momentum of the body. However, an analytical solution is not readily available. The concept of super realtime simulation is used. In particular, simulations of
landing, using the simplified model with different leg
touchdown angles, are performetl in super real-time

The actuator forces of both legs are planned as follows and illustrated in Fig. 4:

1. The back leg actuator force is allowed to build up

to a threshold value f 2 1 h as the body compresses
on the leg spring/damper. Meanwhile, the front
leg actuator force is ramped to a value, fez, to
maintain a relatively constant front leg length.

349

during flight, and their predicted effects are evaluated

before landing.
Perhaps the best time to perform super real-time
simulation to select leg touchdown angles is when the
body is at the top of flight. While at the top, the body
is clear of obstacles and the latest information on the
landing terrain level may be taken into consideration,
thus allowing the quadruped to adapt to variation in
the terrain level.

f2

fl

Y,=O

$
1

Takeoff Strategy

The control of takeoff is complicated by the fact that it

takes place over two stages. During the double conlacl
stage of takeoff, the front leg exerts thrust to throw the
body upward until the leg lifts off the ground. However, the desired conditions of the body at that instant are unknown. They depend on the desired takeoff conditions of the body when the back leg lifts off
the ground and the amount of back leg thrust during
the single contact stage of takeoff, both of which are
unknown during the double contact stage of takeoff.
One solution is to use the principle of symmetry [16].
In particular, it may be noted that the leg actuator
forces during takeoff and landing are symmetrical if
the takeoff and landing conditions are symmetrical.
The principle of symmetry [16] is used to simplify
the planning of leg forces during takeoff of a standing jump. Consider the top of Fig. 5. A ,quadruped
lands with an initial angular velocity of Bi, and linear velocities of x i and & with the motion proceeding
from left to right. The front and the back leg actuator
forces, fi and f 2 , are planned according to the landing
strategy developed in Section 4 to reduce the velocities to zero. Consider the bottom figure of Fig. 5. The
body initially has conditions equal to the final conditions of landing in the figure above. If the same force
profiles are applied, reversed in time, to the body over
the same period of time, the body motion will proceed
from right to left with the final conditions symmetrical
to the initial conditions of landing. Thus, if the forces
applied to the quadruped during landing are known,
the same forces, reversed in time, may be used for
takeoff.
However, since landing occurs after takeoff, the
actuator inputs a t landing are unknown when the
quadruped takes off. An approximate solution is used
here. The landing forces are predicted based on the
simplified model. Given the desired takeoff conditions
of the planar quadruped, a set of symmetrical conditions are used as the initial landing conditions for
the simplified model. Before the actual takeoff, super
real-time simulation of landing is performed to determine the force profile parameters and touchdown an-

fl

Figure 5: Takeoff Strategy Using the Principle of Symmetry.

gles. These values are then applied, reversed in time,
for takeoff.

Simulation Results and Discussion

The results of the actual and planned leg forces are

shown in Fig. 6. Note that any negative values of
the leg actuator forces result from-the lower limb segments hitting their hard end stops [14]. The general force profiles as discussed in Section 4 are used.
It may be noted that the takeoff and landing forces
are relatively symmetric. The slight deviations of
the desired and actual actuator forces are due to
the errors in open-loop modulation of the leg spring
compression/decompression and the approximations
in planning the force profiles. As a result of this,
the quadruped tends to over-rotate when the planned
forces are used completely open loop. Thus, a simple
prediction scheme is used. The body states are constantly monitored during the single contact stage of
takeoff. When the projected body angle at the top of
flight is about zero, the back leg thrust is terminated.

Summary and Conclusions

In this paper, a control strategy for a quadruped

standing jump has been presented. The linear and an-

350

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2000,

of Robotics Research, vol. 3, pp. 113-133, Summer

1984.

Dcsind Front Lcg Force

Actual FrontLcg h r c c

.. . . Desired BackLcg Force

.~~~
A~
c b l~
d B.a c.k.L.c.g F m
~

[3] M. H. Raibert, Legged Robots That Balance. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1986.

r,

[4]

S.M. Song and K. J . Waldron, Machines That Walk:

The Adaptive Suspension Vehicle. Cambridge, Mass:
MIT Press, 1989.

... . .. ... ....

-Mol

. .. ..

..

[5] R. Franklin and L. Leon, Final Report: Investigations of Quadruped Locomotion On Rough Terrain
(Video Tape), Environmental Research Institute of
Michigan, 1986.

[6] R. McN. Alexander, The Mechanics of Jumping by a

Dog (Canis familiaris), Journal of Zoology (London),
vol. 173, pp. 549-573, 1974.

I
03

0.4

0.6

0.8

13

1.4

1.6

T i m (sec)

[7] J. K. Hodgins and M. H. Raibert, Biped Gymnastics, The International Journal of Robotics Research,
vol. 9, pp. 115-132, April 1990.

Figure 6: Leg Actuator Forces.

[8] V. V. Lapshin, Control of Vertical and Horizontal

Motion of a Jumping Machine, hfechanacs of Solids,
vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 38-46, 1991.

gular momentum of the body are removed during different stages of landing. Super real-time simulation is
used to select appropriate leg touchdown angles. With
the speed of development of todays computer technology, the effective realization of super real-time simulation is well within range. Leg force profiles during
takeoff are predicted using the principle of symmetry.
These strategies allow a quadruped to jump over
obstacles with substantial height. Further, the strategies are versatile so that they allow the quadruped to
negotiate a wide variety of terrain obstacles such as
isolated walls with different takeoff and landing levels,
terrain steps, and ditches. A number of cases have
been tested in [14] with good results and data for one
of these cases has been presented here. Hopefully, the
approach to control as proposed here will provide the
foundation for jumping machines that are developed
in the future.

[9] M. H. Raibert and H. B. Brown Jr., Experiments in

Balance with a 2D One-Legged Hopping Machine,
Journal of Dynamic Systems, hfeasurement, and Control, vol. 106, pp. 75-81, March 1984.
[lo] M. H. Raibert, H. B. Brown Jr., and M. Chepponis,
Experiments in Balance with a 3D One-Legged Hopping Machine, The International Journal of Robotics
Research, vol. 3, pp. 75-92, Summer 1984.
E111 M. H. Raibert, M. Chepponis, and H. B. Brown Jr.,
Running on Four Legs As Though They Were One,
IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation, vol. RA-2,
pp. 70-82, June 1986.

1121 M. H. Raibert, Hopping in Legged SystemsModeling and Simulation for the 2D One-Legged
Case, I E E E Transactions on System, Man, and Cybernetics, vol. SMC-14, pp. 451-463, June 1984.
[13] M. G. Pandy, V. Kumar, N. Berme, and I<. J.
Waldron, The Dynamics of Quadrupedal Locomotion, ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering,
vol. 110, pp. 230-237, August 1988.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the Defense

Advance Research Projects Agency under Contract
No. MDA972-88-K-0003 and The Ohio State University. The permission of Prof. Vijay Kumar and
Mr. John Bradley of the University of Pennsylvania to
use their facilities in preparing the initial manuscript
of this paper is gratefully acknowledged.

[14] H. C. Wong, Control of a Quadruped Standing Jump

and Running Jump Over Irregular Terrain Obstacles.
PhD thesis, T h e Ohio State University, Columbus,
Ohio, March 1992.
[15] P. S. Freeman and D. E. Orin, Efficient Dynamic
Simulation of a Quadruped Using a Decoupled TreeStructure Approach, The International Journal of
Robotics Research, vol. 6, pp. 619-627, December
1991.

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Quadruped Walking Vehiclo, International Journal

351