12-TET Walker Using a Quadrupedal Walking Algorithm

Planetary exploration robots have used wheels for locomotion. A robot shaped like a tetrahedron (The Tetrahedral Walker) is being developed by NASA to eliminate problems that have been encountered on previous missions to Mars. The 12-Tetrahedral Walker is traditionally envisioned as moving via a controlled topple. In this paper, the authors describe their research into the feasibility of the Tetwalker moving via a quadrupedal walking algorithm. A simulation program has been developed by the authors using C++ with OpenGL in a Linux environment that demonstrates the Tetwalker walking with a quadrupedal walking algorithm on slopes of varying inclination and declination.