Quadruped Assistive Robot

Problem

Indoor assistive robots often use wheels or tracks, which limit mobility on stairs, thresholds, and cluttered spaces. I wanted to explore legged locomotion for more versatile indoor assistance.

Solution

Designed and built a quadruped robot with 12 DOF (3 per leg), running ROS 2 for perception and control. The platform supports walking gaits, obstacle negotiation, and payload carrying for assistive tasks.

Process

1. Mechanical design: leg geometry, joint limits, and foot placement for stable gaits.
2. Firmware: STM32-based joint control with torque/position feedback and gait state machine.
3. Simulation: Gazebo + Ignition with custom URDF and contact dynamics tuning.
4. High-level control: ROS 2 nodes for path planning, obstacle avoidance, and user commands.
5. Integration: real-world testing on varied surfaces and obstacle courses.

Tech

• ROS 2 Humble
• C++17
• Python 3
• Gazebo
• STM32
• URDF

Outcomes

• •Stable trot and walk gaits in simulation and on hardware.
• •Obstacle avoidance pipeline using depth and IMU.
• •Modular codebase suitable for adding manipulation or navigation stacks.

Images