A Simulation-based Approach to Kinematics Analysis of a Quadruped Robot and Prototype Leg Testing

Kinematics analysis is a crucial part of multiple joint-enabled robots. A multi-joint enabled robot requires extensive mathematical calculations to be done so the end effector's position can be determined with respect to the other connective joints involved and their respective frames in a specific coordinate system. For a locomotive quadruped robot, it is essential to determine two types of kinematics for the robot's leg position on the coordinate. For the part of forward kinematics, it measures the position, and joint angles can be calculated using inverse kinematics. Mathematical derivation of the joint angles is derived here, and Python-based simulation has been done to verify and simulate the robot's locomotion. This approach has been tested beneficial over other methods as Python-based code is used which makes it easier to do serial communication and therefore it could be deployed in a micro-controller unit to interact with a prototype leg.