Planning and control of a biped robot

The planning and control problem of a biped robot is addressed in this paper. The biped consists of five links, namely the torso and two legs (each leg consists of two links). These links are connected via four (two hips and two knees) rotating joints which are considered to be friction-free and driven by independent DC motors. Firstly, the planning of the trajectory of the biped for different maneuvers is discussed. Then, the performance of the system is evaluated when a computed torque control scheme is used. In addition, a robust variable structure control law for the biped robot is proposed. The performance of the system is evaluated by making the biped walk on a horizontal plane surface and climbing up a flight of stairs, with its locomotion constrained within the sagittal plane. The robustness of the computed torque control and the variable structure control schemes are also discussed.