Motion Planning for Kinematic Stratified Systems with Application to Quasi-Static Legged Locomotion and Finger Gaiting

We present a general motion planning algonthm for robotic systems with a “stratified” configuration space. Such systems include quasi-static legged robots and kinematic models of object manipulation by finger repo­ sitioning. Our method extends a nonlinear motion planning algorithm for smooth systems to the stratified case, where the relevant dynamics are not smooth. The method does not depend upon the number of legs or fin­ gers, nor is it based on foot placement or finger place­ ment concepts. Examples demonstrate the method.