MORS: BLDC-Based Small Quadruped Robot

This article describes the mechanical design, electronics, and control software of the new quadruped robot MORS (small educational robot dog). The robot is intended for education and research fields. It is relatively small and lightweight and has a modular design to simplify production and assembly. The robot is driven by brushless DC motors governed by a field-oriented control. The trot gait is chosen as the basic one. The locomotion control algorithm is based on the zero moment point preview control method. The desired zero moment point (ZMP) is generated by tracking the intersection of projections of the diagonally opposite legs. The software of the robotic platform is completely open-sourced. To test the performance of all robot components, a number of experiments are conducted both in simulation and on a hardware platform. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the robot walking in different directions at up to 1.2 m/s and a load capacity of up to 7 kg, which is almost equal to its own weight.