Massive object transportation by a humanoid robot

Abstract

This paper describes a way of massive object transportation by a humanoid robot. It is assumed that an object is too heavy for a humanoid robot to lift up, hence the object is transported by pushing or pulling. Model-based object transportation motion generation is discussed, in which a QP problem is solved on-line to optimize joint torques. In order to estimate contact force between the robot and the environment, virtual mass method is proposed. The proposed motion generation is verified by performing simulations.