219 research outputs found
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
A Benchmarking of DCM Based Architectures for Position and Velocity Controlled Walking of Humanoid Robots
This paper contributes towards the development and comparison of
Divergent-Component-of-Motion (DCM) based control architectures for humanoid
robot locomotion. More precisely, we present and compare several DCM based
implementations of a three layer control architecture. From top to bottom,
these three layers are here called: trajectory optimization, simplified model
control, and whole-body QP control. All layers use the DCM concept to generate
references for the layer below. For the simplified model control layer, we
present and compare both instantaneous and Receding Horizon Control
controllers. For the whole-body QP control layer, we present and compare
controllers for position and velocity control robots. Experimental results are
carried out on the one-meter tall iCub humanoid robot. We show which
implementation of the above control architecture allows the robot to achieve a
walking velocity of 0.41 meters per second.Comment: Submitted to Humanoids201
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
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
Impact-Aware Online Motion Planning for Fully-Actuated Bipedal Robot Walking
The ability to track a general walking path with specific timing is crucial
to the operational safety and reliability of bipedal robots for avoiding
dynamic obstacles, such as pedestrians, in complex environments. This paper
introduces an online, full-body motion planner that generates the desired
impact-aware motion for fully-actuated bipedal robotic walking. The main
novelty of the proposed planner lies in its capability of producing desired
motions in real-time that respect the discrete impact dynamics and the desired
impact timing. To derive the proposed planner, a full-order hybrid dynamic
model of fully-actuated bipedal robotic walking is presented, including both
continuous dynamics and discrete lading impacts. Next, the proposed
impact-aware online motion planner is introduced. Finally, simulation results
of a 3-D bipedal robot are provided to confirm the effectiveness of the
proposed online impact-aware planner. The online planner is capable of
generating full-body motion of one walking step within 0.6 second, which is
shorter than a typical bipedal walking step
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