{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T14:02:37Z","timestamp":1781272957817,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,26]],"date-time":"2023-07-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1690329600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","award":["2019YFB1309502"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019YFB1309502"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Recent technological progress is opening up practical applications for quadruped robots. In this context, comprehensive performance demands, including speed, payload, robustness, terrain adaptability, endurance, and techno-economics, are increasing. However, design conflicts inevitably exist among these performance indicators, highlighting design challenges, especially for a heavy-duty, electrically actuated quadruped robots, which are strongly constrained by motor torque density and battery energy density. Starting from task-specific holistic system thinking, in this paper, we present a novel task-oriented approach to the design of such kind of robots, incorporating hierarchical optimization and a control-in-the-loop design, while following a structured design path that effectively exploits the strengths of both heuristic and computational designs. Guided by these philosophies, we utilize heuristic design to obtain the approximate initial form of the prototype and propose a key task-oriented actuator joint configuration, utilizing commercially available components. Subsequently, we build a step-wise analytical models considering trajectory optimization and motor heat constraints for optimization of leg length and joint match parameters to achieve a compact performance requirement envelope and minimize redundancy in the construction of task-specific components. Furthermore, we construct a holistic simulation platform with a module control algorithm for typical scenarios to evaluate subsystem results and adjust design parameters iteratively, balancing conflicts and eventually achieving a reliable design specification for detailed subsystem design. Based on these strategies, we develop a heavy-duty electric prototype achieving a maximum speed of 2 m\/s in trotting gait with a load weighting over 160 kg and enduring a period of 2 h. The experiment upon the prototype verifies the efficiency of the proposed approach.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23156696","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,27]],"date-time":"2023-07-27T02:14:48Z","timestamp":1690424088000},"page":"6696","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Task-Oriented Systematic Design of a Heavy-Duty Electrically Actuated Quadruped Robot with High Performance"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6770-7356","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Junjun","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zeyu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Letian","family":"Qian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rong","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6999-1242","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xin","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Raibert, M.H. (1986). Legged Robots That Balance, MIT Press.","DOI":"10.1109\/MEX.1986.4307016"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10822","DOI":"10.3182\/20080706-5-KR-1001.01833","article-title":"Bigdog, the rough-terrain quadruped robot","volume":"41","author":"Raibert","year":"2008","journal-title":"IFAC Proc. Vol."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pahl, G., Beitz, W., Feldhusen, J., and Grote, K.H. (2007). Engineering Design: A Systematic Approach, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-84628-319-2"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jones, P., and Kijima, K. (2019). Systemic Design: Theory, Methods, and Practice, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-4-431-55639-8"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Seok, S., Wang, A., Otten, D., and Kim, S. (2012, January 7\u201312). Actuator design for high force proprioceptive control in fast legged locomotion. Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS.2012.6386252"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"167","DOI":"10.1177\/0278364917694244","article-title":"High-speed bounding with the MIT Cheetah 2: Control design and experiments","volume":"36","author":"Park","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Robot. Res."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Dynamics, B. (2023, June 15). Spot, LS3, Wildcat Quadruped Robot. Available online: https:\/\/www.bostondynamics.com\/."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bledt, G., Powell, M.J., Katz, B., Di Carlo, J., Wensing, P.M., and Kim, S. (2018, January 1\u20135). MIT Cheetah 3: Design and control of a robust, dynamic quadruped robot. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Madrid, Spain.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS.2018.8593885"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"918","DOI":"10.1080\/01691864.2017.1378591","article-title":"Anymal-toward legged robots for harsh environments","volume":"31","author":"Hutter","year":"2017","journal-title":"Adv. Robot."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"eabk2822","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.abk2822","article-title":"Learning robust perceptive locomotion for quadrupedal robots in the wild","volume":"7","author":"Miki","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sci. Robot."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Katz, B., Di Carlo, J., and Kim, S. (2019, January 20\u201324). Mini cheetah: A platform for pushing the limits of dynamic quadruped control. Proceedings of the 2019 international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA), Montreal, QC, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2019.8793865"},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"(2023, June 15). Unitree Co., A1 Quadruped Robot. Available online: https:\/\/www.unitree.com\/."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Seok, S., Wang, A., Chuah, M.Y., Otten, D., Lang, J., and Kim, S. (2013, January 6\u201310). Design principles for highly efficient quadrupeds and implementation on the MIT Cheetah robot. Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Karlsruhe, Germany.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2013.6631038"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.1016\/j.conengprac.2015.05.005","article-title":"Control design for a bionic kangaroo","volume":"42","author":"Graichen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Control Eng. Pract."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hyde, R., and Wendlandt, J. (2008, January 10\u201313). Tool-supported mechatronic system design. Proceedings of the 2008 34th Annual Conference of IEEE Industrial Electronics, Orlando, FL, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/IECON.2008.4758205"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6318","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2020.3013913","article-title":"Vitruvio: An open-source leg design optimization toolbox for walking robots","volume":"5","author":"Chadwick","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"635","DOI":"10.1109\/TMECH.2016.2616284","article-title":"Design of the hydraulically actuated, torque-controlled quadruped robot HyQ2Max","volume":"22","author":"Semini","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE\/Asme Trans. Mechatronics"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"900","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2016.2528294","article-title":"Design principles for a family of direct-drive legged robots","volume":"1","author":"Kenneally","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1427","DOI":"10.1109\/TRO.2014.2360493","article-title":"Toward Combining Speed, Efficiency, Versatility, and Robustness in an Autonomous Quadruped","volume":"30","author":"Hutter","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Robot."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Kim, D., Di Carlo, J., Katz, B., Bledt, G., and Kim, S. (2019). Highly dynamic quadruped locomotion via whole-body impulse control and model predictive control. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ha, S., Coros, S., Alspach, A., Kim, J., and Yamane, K. (2016, January 9\u201314). Task-based limb optimization for legged robots. Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS.2016.7759324"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dinev, T., Mastalli, C., Ivan, V., Tonneau, S., and Vijayakumar, S. (2022, January 23\u201327). A versatile co-design approach for dynamic legged robots. Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, Japan.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS47612.2022.9981378"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shin, Y.H., Hong, S., Woo, S., Choe, J., Son, H., Kim, G., Kim, J.H., Lee, K., Hwangbo, J., and Park, H.W. (2022, January 23\u201327). Design of KAIST HOUND, a quadruped robot platform for fast and efficient locomotion with mixed-integer nonlinear optimization of a gear train. Proceedings of the 2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Philadelphia, PA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA46639.2022.9811755"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Alexander, R.M. (1996). Optima for Animals, Princeton University Press.","DOI":"10.1515\/9780691221601"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1521","DOI":"10.1177\/0278364918771172","article-title":"Computational co-optimization of design parameters and motion trajectories for robotic systems","volume":"37","author":"Ha","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Robot. Res."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"De Vincenti, F., Kang, D., and Coros, S. (October, January 27). Control-aware design optimization for bio-inspired quadruped robots. Proceedings of the 2021 IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Prague, Czech Republic.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS51168.2021.9636415"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12134","DOI":"10.1109\/LRA.2022.3211785","article-title":"Meta reinforcement learning for optimal design of legged robots","volume":"7","author":"Lee","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Sevaldson, B. (2019, January 13\u201315). What is Systemic Design? Practices Beyond Analyses and Modelling. Proceedings of the Relating Systems Thinking and Design (RSD8) 2019 Symposium, IIT Institute of Design, Chicago, IL, USA."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sevaldson, B. (2011). GIGA-Mapping: Visualisation for Complexity and Systems Thinking in Design. Nordes, 4.","DOI":"10.21606\/nordes.2011.015"},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Malmquist, D. (2014). A Tool for Holistic Optimization of Mechatronic Design Concepts. [Ph.D. Thesis, KTH]."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"535","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-control-071020-045021","article-title":"Dynamic walking: Toward agile and efficient bipedal robots","volume":"4","author":"Reher","year":"2021","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Control Robot. Auton. Syst."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1497","DOI":"10.1177\/0278364916648388","article-title":"Atrias: Design and validation of a tether-free 3d-capable spring-mass bipedal robot","volume":"35","author":"Hubicki","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Robot. Res."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ivaldi, S., Peters, J., Padois, V., and Nori, F. (2014, January 18\u201320). Tools for simulating humanoid robot dynamics: A survey based on user feedback. Proceedings of the 2014 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Madrid, Spain.","DOI":"10.1109\/HUMANOIDS.2014.7041462"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"805","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mechatronics.2014.01.006","article-title":"A model-based and simulation-driven methodology for design of haptic devices","volume":"24","author":"Ahmad","year":"2014","journal-title":"Mechatronics"}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/15\/6696\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T20:19:32Z","timestamp":1760127572000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/23\/15\/6696"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,26]]},"references-count":34,"journal-issue":{"issue":"15","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]}},"alternative-id":["s23156696"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s23156696","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,26]]}}}