Two degree of freedom link mechanism based on cheetah’s spine and leg movement

This research report describes a model of cheetah ’s flexible spine and hind leg by utilizing a link mechanism. The mechanism consists of a number of rigid links, which is driven by two pneumatic actuators. One actuator drives the link mechanism is for reproducing the curvature of the cheetah ’s spine during running, and the other retracts the hind leg to generate clearance. We have developed the smallest set of the spine and a hind leg so that we could demonstrate simple running behavior.