Effect of swing arm during gait transition of a humanoid robot

In a humanoid robot that the locomotion is specified by using discrete gaits, the transition between different gait could cause the robot to fall down because of the abrupt change in motion. The method of applying the additional motion in the robots upper body is proposed to help stabilizing the locomotion during gait transition. After the walking gait is generated off-line, the stabilization system is used to control the robot by regulating the angular velocity of the robot to zero. In this research, the effect of swing arm motion during different walking gaits and during the gait transition is studied. The experimental results show that the swing arm motion can reduce the magnitude of a front-back sway of the robot especially during the gait transition.