ABSTRACT

This paper gives a survey of current and emerging tech­ niques for motion control of nonlinear mechanical sys­ tems, motivated by applications in robotic locomotion. For this class of systems, internal changes of shape and/or application of body fixed forces are the mecha­ nism by which the robot moves in its environment and the geometric mechanical properties of the system are crucial in understanding how specific gaits for generat­ ing motion can be obtained.