Development of Force Sensors of Toes and Heel for Humanoid Robot's Intelligent Foot

In order to let the humanoid robot walk on the uneven terrains, the robot's foot should have the similar structure and function as human's. The intelligent foot should be made up of toes and heel. When it walks on the uneven terrains, the foot's sole senses the force and adjusts foot's position before robot losing his balance. In this paper, the force sensors of robot's intelligent foot for having the similar structure and function like human are developed. The heel 3-axis force/moment sensor and toe force sensors for humanoid robot's intelligent foot is developed, and the characteristic tests of them are carried out. As a result of characteristic test, the interference error of the heel 3-axis force/moment sensor is less than 2.2%. It is thought that the developed force sensors could be used to measure the reaction forces which is applied the toes and the heel of a humanoid robot.