Semi-Passive Walk and Active Walk by One Bipedal Robot: Mechanism, Control and Parameter Identification

Abstract

We developed a bipedal robot equipped with brake and clutch mechanisms to change the number of active and passive joints, thereby enabling various types of movements including normal active walking using 12-dof joints, under-actuated walking using brake, and passive-based walking using clutch and passive joints. In this paper, we describe three technologies to achieve the proposed system and show experimental results on active and semi-passive walking. The first technology comprises a small and high-strength clutch mechanism to sustain the massive weight of life-sized robots using actuators for joint and dog clutch control. The second technology comprises a walking controller using a simulation-based optimization technique to consider passive joint dynamics instead of depending on the inverse kinematics problem, thereby enabling the control of the under-actuated leg. The last technology is model parameter identification to achieve unstable passive-based walking in real-world considering the body as well as environmental parameters such as ground slope. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed robot is the first to achieve both active and passive-based walking using a bipedal body. This enables the implementation of the passive-walking technology to active-joint robots and expands the application possibility of passive joint for bipedal robots.