Control of monopedal running through tunable damping

Abstract

We propose a novel control strategy for monopods that incorporate a linear actuator in series with the radial leg spring. Our technique relies on active tuning of the virtual damping coefficient felt by the robot body through the linear actuator connected to the otherwise passive leg on a monopod. Based on this method, we also introduce a per-stride control method for regulating the hopping height of such a robot through appropriate choices of the effective damping constant. Finally, we present simulations illustrating the performance of the proposed control method.