Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:54:46.562Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Optimal design and implementation of an energy-efficient biped walking in semi-active manner

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2008

Ting-Ying Wu  and
T.-J. Yeh
Ting-Ying Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C.
T.-J. Yeh*
Affiliation:
Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C.
*
*Corresponding author. email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In this paper, a biped that combines the merits of both powered and passive bipeds is proposed. The semi-activeness of the biped is due to the fact that during most of a walking cycle, only half of the joints are actuated to follow specific trajectories, and the other half of joints remain unactuated but have passive springs connected between adjacent links. It is expected that by having unactuated joints, the biped can preserve the power-saving feature of the passive biped, and by having actuated joints under active control, the biped can also achieve the stability and performance of the powered biped. To devise a systematic design methodology for the biped, its dynamics as well as the walking constraints are carefully studied. Furthermore, an optimization procedure is also proposed to compute the optimal trajectories for the actuated joints and spring constants, which can lead to minimum energy consumption. The feasibility of the proposed biped, including the system design and the control strategy, is verified by hardware implementation. Experiments indicate that the biped walking in the semi-active manner consumes 80% less the electrical power than the fully powered biped that performs the same gait and is more energy-efficient than several state-of-the-art bipeds.

Keywords

Semi-activenessPassive bipedPowered bipedNonlinear optimization
Type
Article
Information
Robotica , Volume 27 , Issue 6 , October 2009 , pp. 841 - 852
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Takanishi, A., Hun-ok, L., Tsuda, M. and Kato, I., ‘Realization of dynamic biped walking stabilized by trunk motion on a sagittally uneven surface,’ Proceedings of the IEEE International Workshop on Intelligent Robots and Systems (1990) pp. 323–330.Google Scholar
2.Hirai, K., Hirose, M., Haikawa, Y. and Takenaka, T., ‘The development of Honda humanoid robot,’ Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Leuven, Belgium (1998) pp. 1321–1326.Google Scholar
3.McGeer, T., ‘Passive dynamic walking,’ Int. J. Robt. Res. 9 (2):62–82 (1990).Google Scholar
4.Collins, S.H., Wisse, M. and Ruina, A., ‘A three-dimensional passive dynamic walking robot with two legs and knees,’ Int. J. Robt. Res. 20 (7), 607–615 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Collins, S.H., Ruina, A., Tedrake, R. and Wisse, M., ‘Efficient bipedal robots based on passive-dynamic walkers,’ Science 307 (5712):1082–1085 (2005).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Bessonnet, G., Seguin, P. and Sardain, P., ‘A parametric optimization approach to walking pattern synthesis,’ Int. J. Robt. Res. 24 (7):523–536 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Sangwan, V. and Agrawal, S.K., ‘Leg-like motion with an under-actuated two DOF linkage using differential flatness,’ Proceedings of the 2006 American Control Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (2006) pp. 1790–1795.Google Scholar
8.Ono, K. and Liu, R.Q., ‘Optimal biped walking locomotion solved by trajectory planning method,’ ASME J. Dyn. Syst. Meas. Control 124 (4):554–565 (2002).Google Scholar
9.Ono, K., Furuichi, T. and Takahashi, R., ‘Self-excited walking of a biped mechanism with feet,’ Int. J. Robt. Res. 23 (1):55–68 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Westervelt, E. R., Buche, G., and Grizzle, J. W., ‘Experimental validation of a framework for the design of controllers that induce stable walking in planar bipeds,’ Int. J. Robt. Res. 24 (6):55–68 (2004).Google Scholar
11.Westervelt, E. R., Grizzle, J. W., Chevallereau, C., Choi, J. H., and Morris, B., Feedback Control of Dynamic Bipedal Robot Locomotion (CRC Press, 2007, New York.)Google Scholar
12.Goswami, A., ‘Postural stability of biped robots and the foot-rotation indicator (FRI) point,’ Int. J. Robt. Res. 18 (6):523–533 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Coleman, T. F. and Zhang, Yin., Optimization Toolbox for use with MATLAB® (Version 2006b) (The MathWorks, Inc., 2006).Google Scholar
14.Gill, P.-E., Murray, W. and Wright, M.-H., Practical Optimization, (Academic Press, New York, 1981).Google Scholar
15.Collins, S.H. and Ruina, A., ‘A bipedal walking robot with efficient and human-like gait,’ Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Barcelona, Spain (2005) pp. 1983–1988.Google Scholar