Lapshin

The article discusses some problems concerning the functional safety of statically stable multi-legged walking machines associated with the possible loss of motion stability. When a waking machine works in dangerous situations it is suggested to use a special cautious (safe) gait that will allow the machine to remain statically stable in case of its sudden loosing a support to one of the legs. It is also proposed to reconsider a general definition of the static stability margin of walking machine to have a numeric characteristic that allows not only answer the question on the static stability (instability) of a walking machine, but also obtain an adequate estimation of the machine concerning its overturning possibility.