[ODE] passive legs

[Nate W]

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003, Michael Scharvogel wrote:

> i am working on a six legged robot. now i have the prob that with all
> legs on the ground and one leg moving (stancing the body) i do not get
> the desired effect as of course the other legs hold tight. to fix that
> problem (any smarter thoughts on this?) i thought about making the
> hinges that move my legst front and back passive unless they are unter
> control (means swinging or stancing). so how can i do this ? would
> setting fMax of the the hinges to 0 let the hinges be moved freely ?

fMax of zero will let them move freely.  However, that might create new
problems, especially for joints that need to use motor force to support
the weight of the creature.

For my creations, I tend to 'actively' motorize all joints, and by that I
mean that my control system is always telling the joint which position it
should be in.  I am happy with the resulting gaits, but if you lift the
creature, all of the legs keep moving, like a wind-up toy. :-)

-- 

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA
http://www.natew.com