Minimizing the Energy Loss of the Bi-Articular Actuation in Bipedal Robots

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the effect actuator position on the theoretical energy consumption of an electrically powered bipedal robot. Specifically, considerable gains are possible through the optimization of the actuator placement relative to joints and their axes, in particular biarticular actuators, are proposed. The energy losses of electric actuators on the two most powerful and inefficient joints of a biped, the hip and the knee, are considered. In standing or walking tasks of a biped’s legs within mathematical model, furthermore, imposing constraints on the actuator placement is used in a genetic algorithm to find the optimum configuration of various biarticular configurations.