Combining central pattern generators and reflexes

Locomotion of quadruped robots has not yet achieved the robustness, harmony, efficiency and flexibility of its biological counterparts. Biological evidences showed that there is a two-way interaction between the Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) and the body in the locomotion process of animals. Therefore, the development of bio-inspired controllers seems to be a good and robust way to obtain an efficient and robust robotic locomotion. This contribution presents an innovative hybrid controller that generates locomotion through the combination of CPGs and reflexes. The results show that the hybrid controller is capable of producing stable quadruped locomotion with a regular stepping pattern. Furthermore, it proved to be able to deal with slopes without changing the parameters and with small obstacles, overcoming them successfully.