A simplified Cartesian computed torque (SCCT) control scheme and its application to an experimental climbing robot named LIBRA is presented. SCCT control is developed exploiting some of the characteristics of highly geared mobile robots. The effectiveness of the method is shown by simulation and experimental results using the LIBRA robot. SCCT control is shown to have improved performance, over traditional Jacobian transpose control, for the LIBRA multilimbed robot. [S0022-0434(00)03501-2]

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