College - Author 1

College of Engineering

Department - Author 1

Mechanical Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Mechanical Engineering

College - Author 2

College of Engineering

Department - Author 2

Mechanical Engineering Department

Degree - Author 2

BS in Mechanical Engineering

College - Author 3

College of Engineering

Department - Author 3

Mechanical Engineering Department

Degree - Author 3

BS in Mechanical Engineering

College - Author 4

College of Engineering

Department - Author 4

Computer Engineering Department

Degree - Author 4

BS in Computer Engineering

Date

6-2022

Primary Advisor

Peter Schuster, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department

Abstract/Summary

The goal of our senior project was to fabricate an eight degree of freedom (DOF) prototypical quadrupedal robot, develop a controller than commands the quadruped to repeatedly jump 10 cm in the air, and fabricate a modular test stand to safely deploy our controller on the quadruped. The creation of a functional quadruped will bring attention to Dr. Siyuan Xing and Charlie Refvem’s research group, Cal Poly Legged Robots, and will give future Cal Poly undergraduate and graduate students a learning tool to explore dynamic control of biomimetic robotic systems.

Over the course of our senior project, we successfully manufactured the mechanical quadrupedal prototype, we fabricated a wire harness to power and communicate with the actuators in our system, we developed a controller in MATLAB/Simulink that commands our quadruped to repeatedly jump 10 cm in the air, and we fabricated a modular test stand that holds our necessary electronics and facilitates the quadruped’s dynamic motion. This hopping robot will be a platform for future Cal Poly students to develop control algorithms for future senior projects and master theses, with one such being student Patrick Ward’s Master’s Thesis in which he is developing a bounding gait simulation in MATLAB/Simulink that will be deployed onto the quadruped in a later senior project.

Our success in developing a quadrupedal prototype and verifying its functionality (durability, centered mass, manufacturability) has also drawn attention to Cal Poly Legged Robots from both students at Cal Poly and the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB). This will ensure that future students at Cal Poly are interested in becoming involved with CP Legged Robots and that funding will be available to continue researching and improving our software, electronic hardware, and mechanical system.

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