Humanoid walking coordination through a single spatial parameter

This article deals with the generation of coordinated movements for humanoid walking. The objective is to produce feasible smooth and natural 3D dynamic gaits over an infinite number of steps with a single input. Our novel approach controls a virtual humanoid by coordinating spatial data in a time independent manner. This approach creates a robust and stable control of the leg swing with respect to the leg stance. The synchronization of thirteen intermediate key parameters allows us to implicitly control the humanoid pelvis relatively to the ground (current inverse pendulum), metatarsophalangeals (MTP) joints flexion-extensions (propulsion during the transition between single and double support phase) and positions through the foot swing (future rotation center of the inverse pendulum). The smooth coordination of this approach is illustrated by the simulation of a virtual humanoid. Obtained motions were very near to those captured during natural human walking.