Legged robots - an overview

Legged robots, as one kind of mobile robots, can be used for tasks too dangerous or difficult for human to perform, eg, planetary exploration, disaster salvation and anti-terrorism action. Consequently, the issues of legged robots, including mechanical structure, stability analysis and control algorithms, have become an important research direction in the field of robotics in recent years. This paper surveys the current status with respect to legged robots, and describes the existent research approaches in terms of mechanical structure, stability analysis and control algorithms of legged robots. To conclude, this paper proposes the problems to be solved and discusses the future development of legged robots.