Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for Motion Generation of Humanoids

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Untersuchung und Entwicklung numerischer Methoden zur Bewegungserzeugung von humanoiden Robotern basierend auf nichtlinearer modell-prädiktiver Regelung. Ausgehend von der Modellierung der Humanoiden als komplexe Mehrkörpermodelle, die sowohl durch unilaterale Kontaktbedingungen beschränkt als auch durch die Formulierung unteraktuiert sind, wird die Bewegungserzeugung als Optimalsteuerungsproblem formuliert. In dieser Arbeit werden numerische Erweiterungen basierend auf den Prinzipien der Automatischen Differentiation für rekursive Algorithmen, die eine effiziente Auswertung der dynamischen Größen der oben genannten Mehrkörperformulierung erlauben, hergeleitet, sodass sowohl die nominellen Größen als auch deren ersten Ableitungen effizient ausgewertet werden können. Basierend auf diesen Ideen werden Erweiterungen für die Auswertung der Kontaktdynamik und der Berechnung des Kontaktimpulses vorgeschlagen. Die Echtzeitfähigkeit der Berechnung von Regelantworten hängt stark von der Komplexität der für die Bewegungerzeugung gewählten Mehrkörperformulierung und der zur Verfügung stehenden Rechenleistung ab. Um einen optimalen Trade-Off zu ermöglichen, untersucht diese Arbeit einerseits die mögliche Reduktion der Mehrkörperdynamik und andererseits werden maßgeschneiderte numerische Methoden entwickelt, um die Echtzeitfähigkeit der Regelung zu realisieren. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit werden hierfür zwei reduzierte Modelle hergeleitet: eine nichtlineare Erweiterung des linearen inversen Pendelmodells sowie eine reduzierte Modellvariante basierend auf der centroidalen Mehrkörperdynamik. Ferner wird ein Regelaufbau zur GanzkörperBewegungserzeugung vorgestellt, deren Hauptbestandteil jeweils aus einem speziell diskretisierten Problem der nichtlinearen modell-prädiktiven Regelung sowie einer maßgeschneiderter Optimierungsmethode besteht. Die Echtzeitfähigkeit des Ansatzes wird durch Experimente mit den Robotern HRP-2 und HeiCub verifiziert. Diese Arbeit schlägt eine Methode der nichtlinear modell-prädiktiven Regelung vor, die trotz der Komplexität der vollen Mehrkörperformulierung eine Berechnung der Regelungsantwort in Echtzeit ermöglicht. Dies wird durch die geschickte Kombination von linearer und nichtlinearer modell-prädiktiver Regelung auf der aktuellen beziehungsweise der letzten Linearisierung des Problems in einer parallelen Regelstrategie realisiert. Experimente mit dem humanoiden Roboter Leo zeigen, dass, im Vergleich zur nominellen Strategie, erst durch den Einsatz dieser Methode eine Bewegungserzeugung auf dem Roboter möglich ist. Neben Methoden der modell-basierten Optimalsteuerung werden auch modell-freie Methoden des verstärkenden Lernens (Reinforcement Learning) für die Bewegungserzeugung untersucht, mit dem Fokus auf den schwierig zu modellierenden Modellunsicherheiten der Roboter. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit werden eine allgemeine vergleichende Studie sowie Leistungskennzahlen entwickelt, die es erlauben, modell-basierte und -freie Methoden quantitativ bezüglich ihres Lösungsverhaltens zu vergleichen. Die Anwendung der Studie auf ein akademisches Beispiel zeigt Unterschiede und Kompromisse sowie Break-Even-Punkte zwischen den Problemformulierungen. Diese Arbeit schlägt basierend auf dieser Grundlage zwei mögliche Kombinationen vor, deren Eigenschaften bewiesen und in Simulation untersucht werden. Außerdem wird die besser abschneidende Variante auf dem humanoiden Roboter Leo implementiert und mit einem nominellen modell-basierten Regler verglichen

Planning and Control Strategies for Motion and Interaction of the Humanoid Robot COMAN+

Despite the majority of robotic platforms are still confined in controlled environments such as factories, thanks to the ever-increasing level of autonomy and the progress on human-robot interaction, robots are starting to be employed for different operations, expanding their focus from uniquely industrial to more diversified scenarios. Humanoid research seeks to obtain the versatility and dexterity of robots capable of mimicking human motion in any environment. With the aim of operating side-to-side with humans, they should be able to carry out complex tasks without posing a threat during operations. In this regard, locomotion, physical interaction with the environment and safety are three essential skills to develop for a biped. Concerning the higher behavioural level of a humanoid, this thesis addresses both ad-hoc movements generated for specific physical interaction tasks and cyclic movements for locomotion. While belonging to the same category and sharing some of the theoretical obstacles, these actions require different approaches: a general high-level task is composed of specific movements that depend on the environment and the nature of the task itself, while regular locomotion involves the generation of periodic trajectories of the limbs. Separate planning and control architectures targeting these aspects of biped motion are designed and developed both from a theoretical and a practical standpoint, demonstrating their efficacy on the new humanoid robot COMAN+, built at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. The problem of interaction has been tackled by mimicking the intrinsic elasticity of human muscles, integrating active compliant controllers. However, while state-of-the-art robots may be endowed with compliant architectures, not many can withstand potential system failures that could compromise the safety of a human interacting with the robot. This thesis proposes an implementation of such low-level controller that guarantees a fail-safe behaviour, removing the threat that a humanoid robot could pose if a system failure occurred

Locomoção de humanoides robusta e versátil baseada em controlo analítico e física residual

Humanoid robots are made to resemble humans but their locomotion abilities are far from ours in terms of agility and versatility. When humans walk on complex terrains or face external disturbances, they combine a set of strategies, unconsciously and efficiently, to regain stability. This thesis tackles the problem of developing a robust omnidirectional walking framework, which is able to generate versatile and agile locomotion on complex terrains. We designed and developed model-based and model-free walk engines and formulated the controllers using different approaches including classical and optimal control schemes and validated their performance through simulations and experiments. These frameworks have hierarchical structures that are composed of several layers. These layers are composed of several modules that are connected together to fade the complexity and increase the flexibility of the proposed frameworks. Additionally, they can be easily and quickly deployed on different platforms. Besides, we believe that using machine learning on top of analytical approaches is a key to open doors for humanoid robots to step out of laboratories. We proposed a tight coupling between analytical control and deep reinforcement learning. We augmented our analytical controller with reinforcement learning modules to learn how to regulate the walk engine parameters (planners and controllers) adaptively and generate residuals to adjust the robot’s target joint positions (residual physics). The effectiveness of the proposed frameworks was demonstrated and evaluated across a set of challenging simulation scenarios. The robot was able to generalize what it learned in one scenario, by displaying human-like locomotion skills in unforeseen circumstances, even in the presence of noise and external pushes.Os robôs humanoides são feitos para se parecerem com humanos, mas suas habilidades de locomoção estão longe das nossas em termos de agilidade e versatilidade. Quando os humanos caminham em terrenos complexos ou enfrentam distúrbios externos combinam diferentes estratégias, de forma inconsciente e eficiente, para recuperar a estabilidade. Esta tese aborda o problema de desenvolver um sistema robusto para andar de forma omnidirecional, capaz de gerar uma locomoção para robôs humanoides versátil e ágil em terrenos complexos. Projetámos e desenvolvemos motores de locomoção sem modelos e baseados em modelos. Formulámos os controladores usando diferentes abordagens, incluindo esquemas de controlo clássicos e ideais, e validámos o seu desempenho por meio de simulações e experiências reais. Estes frameworks têm estruturas hierárquicas compostas por várias camadas. Essas camadas são compostas por vários módulos que são conectados entre si para diminuir a complexidade e aumentar a flexibilidade dos frameworks propostos. Adicionalmente, o sistema pode ser implementado em diferentes plataformas de forma fácil. Acreditamos que o uso de aprendizagem automática sobre abordagens analíticas é a chave para abrir as portas para robôs humanoides saírem dos laboratórios. Propusemos um forte acoplamento entre controlo analítico e aprendizagem profunda por reforço. Expandimos o nosso controlador analítico com módulos de aprendizagem por reforço para aprender como regular os parâmetros do motor de caminhada (planeadores e controladores) de forma adaptativa e gerar resíduos para ajustar as posições das juntas alvo do robô (física residual). A eficácia das estruturas propostas foi demonstrada e avaliada em um conjunto de cenários de simulação desafiadores. O robô foi capaz de generalizar o que aprendeu em um cenário, exibindo habilidades de locomoção humanas em circunstâncias imprevistas, mesmo na presença de ruído e impulsos externos.Programa Doutoral em Informátic

Motion Planning and Control for the Locomotion of Humanoid Robot

This thesis aims to contribute on the motion planning and control problem of the locomotion of humanoid robots. For the motion planning, various methods were proposed in different levels of model dependence. First, a model free approach was proposed which utilizes linear regression to estimate the relationship between foot placement and moving velocity. The data-based feature makes it quite robust to handle modeling error and external disturbance. As a generic control philosophy, it can be applied to various robots with different gaits. To reduce the risk of collecting experimental data of model-free method, based on the simplified linear inverted pendulum model, the classic planning method of model predictive control was explored to optimize CoM trajectory with predefined foot placements or optimize them two together with respect to the ZMP constraint. Along with elaborately designed re-planning algorithm and sparse discretization of trajectories, it is fast enough to run in real time and robust enough to resist external disturbance. Thereafter, nonlinear models are utilized for motion planning by performing forward simulation iteratively following the multiple shooting method. A walking pattern is predefined to fix most of the degrees of the robot, and only one decision variable, foot placement, is left in one motion plane and therefore able to be solved in milliseconds which is sufficient to run in real time. In order to track the planned trajectories and prevent the robot from falling over, diverse control strategies were proposed according to the types of joint actuators. CoM stabilizer was designed for the robots with position-controlled joints while quasi-static Cartesian impedance control and optimization-based full body torque control were implemented for the robots with torque-controlled joints. Various scenarios were set up to demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the proposed approaches, like walking on uneven terrain, walking with narrow feet or straight leg, push recovery and so on

System Identification of Bipedal Locomotion in Robots and Humans

The ability to perform a healthy walking gait can be altered in numerous cases due to gait disorder related pathologies. The latter could lead to partial or complete mobility loss, which affects the patients’ quality of life. Wearable exoskeletons and active prosthetics have been considered as a key component to remedy this mobility loss. The control of such devices knows numerous challenges that are yet to be addressed. As opposed to fixed trajectories control, real-time adaptive reference generation control is likely to provide the wearer with more intent control over the powered device. We propose a novel gait pattern generator for the control of such devices, taking advantage of the inter-joint coordination in the human gait. Our proposed method puts the user in the control loop as it maps the motion of healthy limbs to that of the affected one. To design such control strategy, it is critical to understand the dynamics behind bipedal walking. We begin by studying the simple compass gait walker. We examine the well-known Virtual Constraints method of controlling bipedal robots in the image of the compass gait. In addition, we provide both the mechanical and control design of an affordable research platform for bipedal dynamic walking. We then extend the concept of virtual constraints to human locomotion, where we investigate the accuracy of predicting lower limb joints angular position and velocity from the motion of the other limbs. Data from nine healthy subjects performing specific locomotion tasks were collected and are made available online. A successful prediction of the hip, knee, and ankle joints was achieved in different scenarios. It was also found that the motion of the cane alone has sufficient information to help predict good trajectories for the lower limb in stairs ascent. Better estimates were obtained using additional information from arm joints. We also explored the prediction of knee and ankle trajectories from the motion of the hip joints

Learning-based methods for planning and control of humanoid robots

Nowadays, humans and robots are more and more likely to coexist as time goes by. The anthropomorphic nature of humanoid robots facilitates physical human-robot interaction, and makes social human-robot interaction more natural. Moreover, it makes humanoids ideal candidates for many applications related to tasks and environments designed for humans. No matter the application, an ubiquitous requirement for the humanoid is to possess proper locomotion skills. Despite long-lasting research, humanoid locomotion is still far from being a trivial task. A common approach to address humanoid locomotion consists in decomposing its complexity by means of a model-based hierarchical control architecture. To cope with computational constraints, simplified models for the humanoid are employed in some of the architectural layers. At the same time, the redundancy of the humanoid with respect to the locomotion task as well as the closeness of such a task to human locomotion suggest a data-driven approach to learn it directly from experience. This thesis investigates the application of learning-based techniques to planning and control of humanoid locomotion. In particular, both deep reinforcement learning and deep supervised learning are considered to address humanoid locomotion tasks in a crescendo of complexity. First, we employ deep reinforcement learning to study the spontaneous emergence of balancing and push recovery strategies for the humanoid, which represent essential prerequisites for more complex locomotion tasks. Then, by making use of motion capture data collected from human subjects, we employ deep supervised learning to shape the robot walking trajectories towards an improved human-likeness. The proposed approaches are validated on real and simulated humanoid robots. Specifically, on two versions of the iCub humanoid: iCub v2.7 and iCub v3