Small Quadruped Robot with Bi-articular Muscle-Tendon Complex: -Development of the leg to transfer the torque between hip and knee joint-@@@―股関節と膝関節間での駆動トルクの相互利用を可能とする脚機構の開発―

Within limbs of typical animals, there are bi-articular muscle-tendon complex crossing two joints. In particular, it is known that the bi-articular muscle-tendon complex between hip joint and knee joint contributes to the dynamic motion such as high jumping and fast running. This realizes transfer of the torque between the two joints and storage and reuse of the elastic energy. In this paper, we introduce the muscle-tendon complex between hip joint and knee joint to the hind legs of the quadruped robot. In the vertical jump simulation, we confirmed that the mechanism enabled the leg to transfer the torque between the two joints and the leg with the mechanism realized higher jump than the one without it. A prototype of the mechanism has been fabricated also.