Walking pattern generation for a humanoid robot with compliant joints

This work presents a walking pattern generator based on the control of the center of mass (COM) states and its experimental validations on the compliant humanoid robot COMAN powered by intrinsically compliant joints. To cope with the inaccuracies of the joint position tracking resulted by the physical compliance, the proposed pattern generator uses the feedback states of the COM and on-line computes the updated COM references. The position and velocity of the COM are the state variables, and the constrained ground reaction force (GRF) limited by the support polygon is the control effort to drive the real COM states to track the desired references. The frequency analysis of the COM demonstrates its low frequency spectrum that indicates the demand of a low control bandwidth which is suitable for a robot system with compliant joints. The effectiveness of the proposed gait generation method was demonstrated by the experiments performed on the COMAN robot. The experimental data such as the COM position and velocity tracking, the GRF applied on feet, the measured step length and the walking velocity are analyzed. The effect of the passive compliance is also discussed.

[1]  Rodney A. Brooks,et al.  Humanoid robots , 2002, CACM.

[2]  Jerry Pratt,et al.  Velocity-Based Stability Margins for Fast Bipedal Walking , 2006 .

[3]  Reinhard Blickhan,et al.  Compliant leg behaviour explains basic dynamics of walking and running , 2006, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[4]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  iCub: the design and realization of an open humanoid platform for cognitive and neuroscience research , 2007, Adv. Robotics.

[5]  Atsuo Takanishi,et al.  Experimental development of a foot mechanism with shock absorbing material for acquisition of landing surface position information and stabilization of dynamic biped walking , 1995, Proceedings of 1995 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[6]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  A novel actuator with adjustable stiffness (AwAS) , 2010, 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[7]  Marko B. Popovic,et al.  Ground Reference Points in Legged Locomotion: Definitions, Biological Trajectories and Control Implications , 2005, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[8]  Kazuhito Yokoi,et al.  Biped walking pattern generation by using preview control of zero-moment point , 2003, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.03CH37422).

[9]  Kazuhito Yokoi,et al.  Biped walking stabilization based on linear inverted pendulum tracking , 2010, 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[10]  Juliet.  Humanoid Robots , 2009 .

[11]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  Fast bipedal walk using large strides by modulating hip posture and toe-heel motion , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics.

[12]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  A variable physical damping actuator (VPDA) for compliant robotic joints , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[13]  Sergey V. Drakunov,et al.  Capture Point: A Step toward Humanoid Push Recovery , 2006, 2006 6th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots.

[14]  Atsuo Takanishi,et al.  REALIZATION OF DYNAMIC WALKING BY THE BIPED WALKING ROBOT WL-10RD. , 1985 .

[15]  Kazuhito Yokoi,et al.  The 3D linear inverted pendulum mode: a simple modeling for a biped walking pattern generation , 2001, Proceedings 2001 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Expanding the Societal Role of Robotics in the the Next Millennium (Cat. No.01CH37180).

[16]  Thomas Buschmann,et al.  Simulation and Control of Biped Walking Robots , 2010 .

[17]  M. Hirose,et al.  Development of Humanoid Robot ASIMO , 2001 .

[18]  Sergey V. Drakunov,et al.  Derivation and Application of a Conserved Orbital Energy for the Inverted Pendulum Bipedal Walking Model , 2007, Proceedings 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[19]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  A passivity based admittance control for stabilizing the compliant humanoid COMAN , 2012, 2012 12th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids 2012).

[20]  Shuuji Kajita,et al.  Experimentation of Humanoid Walking Allowing Immediate Modification of Foot Place Based on Analytical Solution , 2007, Proceedings 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[21]  Kenichi Narioka,et al.  3D limit cycle walking of musculoskeletal humanoid robot with flat feet , 2009, 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[22]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  Lower body realization of the baby humanoid - ‘iCub’ , 2007, 2007 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[23]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  MACCEPA 2.0: compliant actuator used for energy efficient hopping robot Chobino1D , 2011, Auton. Robots.

[24]  Miomir Vukobratovic,et al.  How to achieve various gait patterns from single nominal , 2004, ArXiv.

[25]  T. Takenaka,et al.  The development of Honda humanoid robot , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[26]  Tomomichi Sugihara,et al.  Standing stabilizability and stepping maneuver in planar bipedalism based on the best COM-ZMP regulator , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[27]  Takashi Matsumoto,et al.  Real time motion generation and control for biped robot -4th report: Integrated balance control- , 2009, 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[28]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  A compact soft actuator unit for small scale human friendly robots , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[29]  Kazuhisa Mitobe,et al.  Control of walking robots based on manipulation of the zero moment point , 2000, Robotica.

[30]  Masayuki Inaba,et al.  A Fast Dynamically Equilibrated Walking Trajectory Generation Method of Humanoid Robot , 2002, Auton. Robots.

[31]  Ezequiel A. Di Paolo,et al.  The evolution of control and adaptation in a 3D powered passive dynamic walker , 2004 .

[32]  Atsuo Takanishi,et al.  Development of a new humanoid robot WABIAN-2 , 2006, Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2006. ICRA 2006..

[33]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  The design of the lower body of the compliant humanoid robot “cCub” , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[34]  Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis,et al.  Internal model control for improving the gait tracking of a compliant humanoid robot , 2012, 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[35]  Jessica K. Hodgins,et al.  Animation of dynamic legged locomotion , 1991, SIGGRAPH.