The Naval Postgraduate School Small Robot Initiative is an ongoing effort to develop autonomous robotic platforms for military applications. The latest design in this series, a quadruped robot with a tail for stability and obstacle climbing, is currently under development in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University. Tail orientation as a function of robot platform attitude is tested for angle of bank climbs at 10 and 15 degrees. Data indicate that although the platform induced noise is significant, tail orientation can be successfully managed with proper PID feedback mechanisms, including tail position as a function of platform attitude. Gross control of the tail used as an assist for climbing is validated in this experiment. More sophisticated filter algorithms are indicated for fine tuned tail control, including but not limited to the Kalman filter.
http://archive.org/details/characterization109454782
US Navy (USN) author.
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