How the six-legged walking machine OSCAR handles leg amputations

Controlling the walking behaviour of the six-legged robot OSCAR requires simultaneous coordination of 18 joints. With a decentralised controller inspired by biological studies the OSCAR robot walks with only one flexible coordination rule for each leg. With a combination of biological and engineer-ing concepts we achieved an adaptive walking behaviour that is able to handle the amputation of any leg. Even after the amputation of two legs the walking machine is able to keep on walking slowly. Comparisons to biological studies underline the analogy to the behaviour of animals.