Title :
Intuitive control of a planar bipedal walking robot
Author :
Pratt, Jerry ; Pratt, Gill
Author_Institution :
Leg Lab., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
Bipedal robots are difficult to analyze mathematically. However, successful control strategies can be discovered using simple physical intuition and can be described in simple terms. Five things have to happen for a planar bipedal robot to walk. Height has to be stabilized. Pitch has to be stabilized. Speed has to be stabilized. The swing leg has to move so that the feet are in locations which allow for the stability of height, pitch, and speed. Finally, transitions from support leg to support leg must occur at appropriate times. If these five objectives are achieved, the robot will walk. A number of different intuitive control strategies can be used to achieve each of these five objectives. Further, each strategy can be implemented in a variety of ways. We present several strategies for each objective which we have implemented on a bipedal walking robot. Using these simple intuitive strategies, we have compelled a seven link planar bipedal robot, called Spring Flamingo, to walk. The robot walks both slowly and quickly, walks over moderate obstacles, starts, and stops
Keywords :
legged locomotion; robust control; velocity control; Spring Flamingo; height stabilization; intuitive control; pitch stabilization; planar bipedal walking robot; speed stabilization; Control systems; Energy efficiency; Foot; Laboratories; Leg; Legged locomotion; Robot control; Springs; Stability; Velocity control;
Conference_Titel :
Robotics and Automation, 1998. Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Leuven
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4300-X
DOI :
10.1109/ROBOT.1998.680611