The bionic spine of a quadruped robot plays an important role in improving the mobility and the stability of the robot in an unstructured environment. This paper reviews the research progress of the bionic spine of quadruped robots at home and abroad. The bionic spine is divided into two categories in the bionics:the local flexible spine and the overall flexible spine. The structural characteristics of different bionic spines of the quadruped robot are compared and the development trends are discussed. The bionic spine of quadruped robots is developed from the traditional rigid structure to the rigid-flexible coupling structure. The new bionic spine has a bio-variable stiffness with flexible bending, and some key technologies such as the bionic driving and the neuron fine control need to be developed. It is developed toward a biological system for high-efficiency energyconversion.

quadruped robot  /  rigid-flexible coupling  /  bionic spine  /  biomechanics