WALKING MECHANISMS OF A

BIPEDAL ROBOT

Under guidance of
Dr T Jayaraju
Professor,
Dept of mechanical engineering,
NIE
ROBOT

 “Any automatically operated machine that replaces human

effort, though it may not resemble human beings in
appearance or perform functions in a humanlike manner”

 "A re-programmable, multifunctional manipulator designed

to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through
various programmed motions for the performance of a
variety of tasks.”
ROBOT

Industrial Robot Remote camera robot

ASIMO
TYPES OF ROBOTS

Based on locomotion and kinematics

1. Stationary robots (including robotic arms with a global axis of
movement)

 Cartesian robots
 Cylindrical robots
 Spherical robots
 Articulated robots (robotic arms)
TYPES OF ROBOTS

2. Wheeled robots
 Single wheel(ball) robots
 Two-wheeled robots
 Three and more wheel robots

3. Legged robots
 Bipedal robots (humanoid robots)
 Tripedal robots
 Quadrupedal robots
 Hexapod robots
BIPEDAL OR HUMANOID ROBOTS
 A humanoid robot is a robot with its overall appearance based on that of
the human body.
 A humanoid is a automated machine that replaces human effort and
resembles human beings in appearance or perform functions in a
humanlike manner.
WHY HUMANOIDS?

• They can work in human environment without the

need to adapt themselves or to change the
environment

• Everything around us is built to be comfortable for use

by human form.

• It is easier for a human being to interact with a human-

like being. (operating a complex machine needs more
understanding than operating a human-like robot)
HUMAN WALKING

 Human walking is defined as series of falls.

HUMAN WALKING

 Understanding the parameters of human walking is

vital to designing and analyzing walking mechanism
of a bipedal robot.

 Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in

which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs
with each step.
STABILITY

 Stability means the capability to maintain the body posture

given the control patterns
 Statically stable walking implies that the posture can be
achieved even if the legs are frozen / the motion is stopped
at any time, without loss of stability
 Dynamic stability implies that stability can only be achieved
through active control of the leg motion
 Statically stable systems can be controlled using kinematic
models
 Dynamic walking requires use of dynamical models
GAIT
 Gait is the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals,
including humans, during locomotion over a solid surface.

 Standing up and walking appear effortless to us, but we are

actually using active control of our balance.
– We use muscles and tendons.
– Robots use motors.

 In order to remain stable, the robot’s Center of Gravity must fall

under its polygon of support.

 The polygon is basically the projection between all of its support

points onto the surface.
GAIT

Human gait cycle

WALKING MECHANISMS

Walking mechanisms can be classified based on type

of actuation

 Passive dynamic robot

 Active dynamic robot
PASSIVE DYNAMIC ROBOT

 It is called “dynamic "because its movement is characterized by a

dynamic stability.
 “Passive” refers to the robot's ability to generate locomotive movement
without motor input
 Utilizes the gravity and the momentum of swinging limbs for efficiency.
 Advantages:
 In contrast to rigidly joint-controlled robots, walking robots based on
passive-dynamic principles can have human-like efficiency and
actuation requirements.
 Disadvantages:
 Movements are mostly in sagital plane and in straight line, being
extremely difficult to turn, go back, seat,etc. The motion is mostly
symmetrical.
 PASSIVE DYNAMIC ROBOT

Frontal plane of Passive Toy Saggital plane of Passive Toy

• A passive dynamic walker with single DOF per leg which walks with a stable
gait down a smooth incline
PASSIVE DYNAMIC ROBOT

• A passive dynamic robot with 2 DOF per leg.

• It has an extra DOF(knee joint)
ACTIVE DYNAMIC ROBOT

 “Active” refers that the robot generates locomotive

movement with the aid of motor input.

 It requires greater degree of control since all the DOFs of the

robot needs to be controlled actively.

 These can perform activities running, jumping, hopping, etc..

unlike passive walkers.

 Ex: ASIMO by Honda which can walk a stair of steps

ACTIVE DYNAMIC ROBOT

ASIMO Walking down the stairs Robot by Toyota which plays violin
KINEMATIC ANALYSIS

 Optimal mass distribution is achieved by understanding the

location of the center of mass.

 According to the results presented, a cluster region of solutions is

found when the function of (c, rgyr) approaches (1,0). (The value c
represents the distance of the center of mass measured from the
floor).

 The distance between the two ankle centers is crucial in

maintaining stability. If too large, the distance between the offset
between projection of COG and the supporting center will
increase. This will decrease the Zero Moment Point stability
margin.
KINEMATIC ANALYSIS

Region of Solutions Biped motion side view

• The kinematics analysis is based on the basic equations of link motion

where the position of the end effectors point is described by the position
(XH,YH).

 XH = Ln cosθn + Ln-1 cosθn-1 +….. L0 cosθ0 …… (1) 

 YH = Ln sinθn + Ln-1 sinθn-1 +…… L0 sinθ0 …… (2)
KINEMATIC ANALYSIS

 Applying equations (1) and (2) relation can be obtained for the position
of the end-effectors.

 The center of mass (C) is another important factor that must be

considered. As previously mentioned, the center of mass is a key
component in maintaining stability during biped motion. Equation
given above will be used to simulate the motion of the center of mass
as the biped attempts each phase
ZERO MOMENT POINT
 The ZMP (Zero Moment Point) is defined as the point on the
ground about which the sum of all the moments of the active
forces equals zero.
 ZMP specifies the point with respect to which dynamic
reaction force at the contact of the foot with the ground
does not produce any moment, i.e. the point where total
inertia force equals 0
 ZMP is the indicator of the stability of the robot:
 if it is in the foot shadow – stable,
 İf not – unstable.
ZERO MOMENT POINT
ZERO MOMENT POINT
 First we design a desired ZMP trajectory, then derive the hip
motion or torso motion required to achieve that ZMP trajectory.

The figure shows the

trajectory that we specify so
that the combined motion of
the ankle, hip and torso
creates a human like walking
motion without the chance
of tripping.
ZERO MOMENT POINT

 The advantage of this method is that the stability margin can be large
if the desired ZMP is designed near the center of the stable region.

 However, since the change of the ZMP due to hip motion is limited,
not all desired ZMP trajectories can be achieved.

 Furthermore, to achieve a desired ZMP trajectory, the hip

acceleration may need to be large.

 In this case, since the torso is relatively massive, energy consumption

increases, and control for task execution of the upper limbs becomes
difficult. Therefore, it is desirable to obtain hip motion without first
designing the desired ZMP trajectory
References:

• Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot)

• (http://asimo.honda.com/)

• Tad McGeer. Passive dynamic walking. International Journal of Robotics Research

• Tad McGeer. Passive walking with knees. In IEEE International Conference on

Robotics and Automation

• Russ Tedrake, Teresa Weirui Zhang, Ming fai Fong, and H. Sebastian Seung.
Actuating a simple 3d passive dynamic walker.