Design of a Flexible Robot Foot with Toes and Heel Joints

Abstract

In terms of the anatomy and mechanics of the human foot, a flexible robot foot with toes and heel joints is designed for a bipedal walking robot. We suggest three design considerations in determining foot design parameters which are critical for walking stability. Those include the position of the frontal toe, the stiffness of toes and heels, and the position of the ankle joint. Compared with the conventional foot with flat sale, the proposed foot is advantageous for human-like walking due to the inherent structural flexibility and the reasonable parameter values. Simulation results are provided to determine the design parameters and also show that the proposed foot enables smaller energy consumption.