Dynamic effects in statically stable walking machines (Q1286814)

The authors demonstrate how dynamic effects modify the properties of static stability of a discontinuous gait, and determine a threshold acceleration under which the static stability criterion remains valid. A dynamic planar model of a four-legged walking machine is chosen as an example. Both the longitudinal and dynamic stability criteria are compared, which shows that the static stability criterion remains adequate for studying stability in machines with massless legs with accelerations smaller than the inversion acceleration. When the mass of the legs must be taken into account, the stability is determined by the legs dynamics and the mass distribution of the legs.