ANYmal - toward legged robots for harsh environments

This paper provides a system overview about ANYmal, a quadrupedal robot developed for operation in harsh environments. The 30 kg, 0.5 m tall robotic dog was built in a modular way for simple maintenance and user-friendly handling, while focusing on high mobility and dynamic motion capability. The system is tightly sealed to reach IP67 standard and protected to survive falls. Rotating lidar sensors in the front and back are used for localization and terrain mapping and compact force sensors in the feet provide accurate measurements about the contact situations. The variable payload, such as a modular pan-tilt head with a variety of inspection sensors, can be exchanged depending on the application. Thanks to novel, compliant joint modules with integrated electronics, ANYmal is precisely torque controllable and very robust against impulsive loads during running or jumping. In a series of experiments we demonstrate that ANYmal can execute various climbing maneuvers, walking gaits, as well as a dynamic trot and jump. As special feature, the joints can be fully rotated to switch between X- and O-type kinematic configurations. Detailed measurements unveil a low energy consumption of 280 W during locomotion, which results in an autonomy of more than 2 h.