Anchoring Sagittal Plane Templates in a Spatial Quadruped

Abstract

This paper introduces a new controller that stabilizes the motion of a spatial quadruped around sagittal-plane templates. It enables highly dynamic gaits and transitional maneuvers formed from parallel and sequential compositions of such planar templates in settings that require significant outof-plane reactivity. The controller admits formal guarantees of stability with some modest assumptions. Experimental results validate the reliable execution of those planar template-based maneuvers, even in the face of large lateral, yaw, and roll incurring disturbances. This spatial anchor, fixed in parallel composition with a variety of different parallel and sequential compositions of sagittal plane templates, illustrates the robust portability of provably interoperable modular control components across a variety of hardware platforms and behaviors.