We consider a class of multi-link mechanical systems arising from the dynamics of multi-segmental animal locomotion in a two dimensional plane. As revealed in the earlier paper, when the head link is constrained along a specified direction, the remaining links can be fully controlled by the corresponding joint torques to achieve an autonomous locomotion in natural oscillation. In this paper, we further consider a free motion without the head constraint. An additional degree of freedom representing the motion direction is thus induced, which motives a novel underactuated control approach.
Keywords
Oscillation
locomotion
robotics
neuronal control
underactuation
Cited by (0)
The work was supported by the Australian Research Council under Grant No. DP0878724.