256 research outputs found
Legged locomotion over irregular terrains: State of the art of human and robot performance
Legged robotic technologies have moved out of the lab to operate in real environments, characterized by a wide variety of unpredictable irregularities and disturbances, all this in close proximity with humans. Demonstrating the ability of current robots to move robustly and reliably in these conditions is becoming essential to prove their safe operation. Here, we report an in-depth literature review aimed at verifying the existence of common or agreed protocols and metrics to test the performance of legged system in realistic environments. We primarily focused on three types of robotic technologies, i.e., hexapods, quadrupeds and bipeds. We also included a comprehensive overview on human locomotion studies, being it often considered the gold standard for performance, and one of the most important sources of bioinspiration for legged machines. We discovered that very few papers have rigorously studied robotic locomotion under irregular terrain conditions. On the contrary, numerous studies have addressed this problem on human gait, being nonetheless of highly heterogeneous nature in terms of experimental design. This lack of agreed methodology makes it challenging for the community to properly assess, compare and predict the performance of existing legged systems in real environments. On the one hand, this work provides a library of methods, metrics and experimental protocols, with a critical analysis on the limitations of the current approaches and future promising directions. On the other hand, it demonstrates the existence of an important lack of benchmarks in the literature, and the possibility of bridging different disciplines, e.g., the human and robotic, towards the definition of standardized procedure that will boost not only the scientific development of better bioinspired solutions, but also their market uptake
A Reactive and Efficient Walking Pattern Generator for Robust Bipedal Locomotion
Available possibilities to prevent a biped robot from falling down in the
presence of severe disturbances are mainly Center of Pressure (CoP) modulation,
step location and timing adjustment, and angular momentum regulation. In this
paper, we aim at designing a walking pattern generator which employs an optimal
combination of these tools to generate robust gaits. In this approach, first,
the next step location and timing are decided consistent with the commanded
walking velocity and based on the Divergent Component of Motion (DCM)
measurement. This stage which is done by a very small-size Quadratic Program
(QP) uses the Linear Inverted Pendulum Model (LIPM) dynamics to adapt the
switching contact location and time. Then, consistent with the first stage, the
LIPM with flywheel dynamics is used to regenerate the DCM and angular momentum
trajectories at each control cycle. This is done by modulating the CoP and
Centroidal Momentum Pivot (CMP) to realize a desired DCM at the end of current
step. Simulation results show the merit of this reactive approach in generating
robust and dynamically consistent walking patterns
Locomoção de humanoides robusta e versátil baseada em controlo analĂtico e fĂsica 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 robĂ´s humanoides sĂŁo 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 distĂşrbios 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 sĂŁo 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
analĂticas Ă© a chave para abrir as portas para robĂ´s humanoides
saĂrem dos laboratĂłrios. Propusemos um forte acoplamento entre controlo
analĂtico e aprendizagem profunda por reforço. Expandimos o
nosso controlador analĂtico com mĂłdulos de aprendizagem por reforço
para aprender como regular os parâmetros do motor de caminhada
(planeadores e controladores) de forma adaptativa e gerar resĂduos
para ajustar as posições das juntas alvo do robĂ´ (fĂsica 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 ruĂdo e impulsos externos.Programa Doutoral em Informátic
Learning hybrid locomotion skills—Learn to exploit residual actions and modulate model-based gait control
This work has developed a hybrid framework that combines machine learning and control approaches for legged robots to achieve new capabilities of balancing against external perturbations. The framework embeds a kernel which is a model-based, full parametric closed-loop and analytical controller as the gait pattern generator. On top of that, a neural network with symmetric partial data augmentation learns to automatically adjust the parameters for the gait kernel, and also generate compensatory actions for all joints, thus significantly augmenting the stability under unexpected perturbations. Seven Neural Network policies with different configurations were optimized to validate the effectiveness and the combined use of the modulation of the kernel parameters and the compensation for the arms and legs using residual actions. The results validated that modulating kernel parameters alongside the residual actions have improved the stability significantly. Furthermore, The performance of the proposed framework was evaluated across a set of challenging simulated scenarios, and demonstrated considerable improvements compared to the baseline in recovering from large external forces (up to 118%). Besides, regarding measurement noise and model inaccuracies, the robustness of the proposed framework has been assessed through simulations, which demonstrated the robustness in the presence of these uncertainties. Furthermore, the trained policies were validated across a set of unseen scenarios and showed the generalization to dynamic walking
Generation and control of locomotion patterns for biped robots by using central pattern generators
This paper presents an efficient closed-loop locomotion control system for biped robots that operates in the joint space. The robot’s joints are directly driven through control signals generated by a central pattern generator (CPG) network. A genetic algorithm is applied in order to find out an optimal combination of internal parameters of the CPG given a desired walking speed in straight line. Feedback signals generated by the robot’s inertial and force sensors are directly fed into the CPG in order to automatically adjust the locomotion pattern over uneven terrain and to deal with external perturbations in real time. Omnidirectional motion is achieved by controlling the pelvis motion. The performance of the proposed control system has been assessed through simulation experiments on a NAO humanoid robot
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