An embedded controller for a quadruped robot

The design of controller is of critical importance for capability of the quadruped robot. In this paper, we present an embedded controller scheme, with ARM and DSP microprocessors, to control the locomotion of a quadruped robot. The controller consists of an ARM board for planning and a DSP board for motion control. Regarding the sensor information, the ARM board is responsible for making plans about switching among gaits, speeding up and slowing down, and communicates with the DSP board via serial parallel interface (SPI). The DSP board, containing four DSP processors, takes charge of receiving ARM command, calculating to generate the motor command, and communicating with DC motor drivers via CAN bus. Finally, we implement the designed controller on a quadruped robot to control the movement of a limb. Test result demonstrates the adequacy of the controller to execute accurate and real-time control.