Balance control system of biped robot

Abstract

The invention provides a balance control system of a biped robot, which belongs to the technical field of humanoid robots and comprises a signal processing center and electronic skin sensing units surface-mounted on soles of the biped robot. The electronic skin sensing unit is used for collecting plantar pressure data of the biped robot; the signal processing center is used for determining the gait of the biped robot based on the plantar pressure data and carrying out balance adjustment on the biped robot based on the gait; wherein the gaits comprise normal, forward inclination, backward inclination, left inclination and right inclination. According to the invention, low-cost and high-efficiency balance control of the biped robot is realized.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of humanoid robots, and in particular to a balance control system of a bipedal robot. Background Art

[0002] Humanoid robots are robots with humanoid appearance and human-like functions. The biggest difference from other types of robots is that they have human appearance, which makes them more adaptable in human work and life scenarios and have human-machine interaction capabilities. They can be used to alleviate and supplement the labor gap in various production and life links in the future. Good balance ability is a prerequisite for the realization of all functions. The balance and mobility of humanoid robots are mainly achieved by lower limbs. There are two forms of "lower limbs" for humanoid robots, one is a wheeled chassis and the other is a bipedal one. The balance, stability and carrying capacity of humanoid robots with wheeled chassis are better, but they have higher requirements for the working environment. They can only move on flat roads and cannot cope with uneven ground or ladders. The range of activities is limited, which limits the application scope of this technical route. Bipedal humanoid robots have strong obstacle avoidance capabilities and higher environmental adaptability. They can walk on complex ground. Therefore, they have a wider range of movement and can better meet the original intention of designing humanoid robots and are favored.

[0003] Since the contact point area between the foot and the ground is small, it is still difficult for bipedal robots to maintain a stable gait when they are active on uneven roads. Researchers have proposed a variety of theories and methods to improve the robot's ability to maintain balance. There are two methods to improve the balance maintenance ability of bipedal robots in the prior art. One is the technology disclosed in CN116909127A, which achieves balance based on the IMU information obtained by multiple inertial measurement units set on the head, legs and hips of the bipedal robot. The other is to arrange a six-dimensional force pressure sensor array inside the sole of the bipedal robot, and perform balance control based on the collected six-dimensional force information. The above two balance control methods have the following technical problems: 1. Both the inertial measurement unit and the six-dimensional force pressure sensor need to be integrated inside the bipedal robot structure, which is difficult to install and has poor maintainability, and the inertial measurement unit and the six-dimensional force pressure sensor are expensive. 2. The amount of data of the inertial measurement unit and the six-dimensional force pressure sensor is large, and the determination process of whether the bipedal robot is balanced is complicated, resulting in poor real-time balance adjustment.

[0004] Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide a balance control system for a bipedal robot to achieve low-cost and fast balance control. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of this, it is necessary to provide a balance control system for a bipedal robot to solve the technical problems existing in the prior art of high balance control cost and slow balance control response.

[0006] On the one hand, in order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a balance control system for a bipedal robot, comprising: a signal processing center and an electronic skin sensor unit attached to the sole of the bipedal robot; The electronic skin sensing unit is used to collect the plantar pressure data of the bipedal robot; The signal processing center is used to determine the gait of the bipedal robot based on the plantar pressure data, and to adjust the balance of the bipedal robot based on the gait; The gait includes normal, forward leaning, backward leaning, left leaning and right leaning.

[0007] In a possible implementation, the bipedal robot includes a left foot and a right foot, and the electronic skin sensing unit is attached to the sole of the left foot or the sole of the right foot.

[0008] In a possible implementation, the electronic skin sensing unit includes a first left sensor and a first right sensor arranged in a sole area, and a second left sensor and a second right sensor arranged in a heel area, and the plantar pressure data includes first left pressure data, first right pressure data, second left pressure data, and second right pressure data corresponding to the first left sensor, the first right sensor, the second left sensor, and the second right sensor, respectively; The signal processing center includes a data processing module, a gait determination module and a balance adjustment module; The data processing module is used to determine the front foot pressure based on the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, determine the rear foot pressure based on the second left pressure data and the second right pressure data, determine the left side pressure based on the first left pressure data and the second left pressure data, and determine the right side pressure based on the first right pressure data and the second right pressure data; The gait determination module is used to determine that the gait is normal when the front foot pressure, the rear foot pressure, the left side pressure and the right side pressure are equal; determine that the gait is forward leaning when the pressure difference between the front foot pressure and the rear foot pressure is greater than the pressure threshold, and the front foot pressure is greater than the rear foot pressure; determine that the gait is backward leaning when the pressure difference between the front foot pressure and the rear foot pressure is greater than the pressure threshold, and the front foot pressure is less than the rear foot pressure; determine that the gait is left leaning when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold, and the left side pressure is greater than the right side pressure; determine that the gait is right leaning when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold, and the left side pressure is less than the right side pressure; The balance adjustment module is used to generate a control instruction for controlling the posture adjustment actuator of the biped robot based on the gait, and to perform balance adjustment on the biped robot based on the control instruction.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the electronic skin sensing unit is a sensing array composed of a plurality of sensors, the plantar pressure data includes a plurality of pressure sub-data corresponding to the plurality of sensors one by one; the signal processing center includes a data division module; The data division module is used to divide the multiple pressure sub-data into a left-front pressure data set, a right-front pressure data set, a left-rear pressure data set and a right-rear pressure data set based on a preset area range, and use the average value of the left-front pressure data set as the first left pressure data, the average value of the right-front pressure data set as the first right pressure data set, the average value of the left-rear pressure data set as the second left pressure data, and the average value of the right-rear pressure data set as the second right pressure data.

[0010] In a possible implementation, the electronic skin sensing unit includes a left electronic skin subunit attached to the sole of the left foot and a right electronic skin subunit attached to the sole of the right foot; The plantar pressure data includes left plantar pressure data corresponding to the left electronic skin subunit and right plantar pressure data corresponding to the right electronic skin subunit; The data processing module is also used to calculate the left data mean of the left plantar pressure data and the right data mean of the right plantar pressure data; The gait determination module is further configured to determine that the gait is left-leaning when the left data mean is greater than the right data mean, and to determine that the gait is right-leaning when the left data mean is less than the right data mean.

[0011] In a possible implementation, the left foot plantar pressure data includes left foot left front pressure data, left foot right front pressure data, left foot left rear pressure data and left foot right rear pressure data, and the right foot plantar pressure data includes right foot left front pressure data, right foot right front pressure data, right foot left rear pressure data and right foot right rear pressure data; The gait determination module is also used to determine the left foot gait based on the left front pressure data of the left foot, the right front pressure data of the left foot, the left rear pressure data of the left foot and the right rear pressure data of the left foot, and to determine the right foot gait based on the left front pressure data of the right foot, the right front pressure data of the right foot, the left rear pressure data of the right foot and the right rear pressure data of the right foot; when the left foot gait and the right foot gait are the same, the left foot gait or the right foot gait is used as the gait of the bipedal robot.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the system further includes a sensor unit verification module; The sensor unit verification module is used to obtain the ground parameters of the ground where the bipedal robot is located, and determine the target sensor parameters of the electronic skin sensor unit based on the ground parameters and a preset corresponding relationship, and when the sensor parameters of the electronic skin sensor unit do not match the target sensor parameters, generate a sensor unit replacement instruction to instruct to replace the electronic skin sensor unit; The preset corresponding relationship is the corresponding relationship between the ground parameters and the sensing parameters of the electronic skin sensing unit.

[0013] In a possible implementation, the electronic skin sensor unit includes a pluggable signal interface, and the signal processing center is connected to the electronic skin sensor unit via the pluggable signal interface.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the electronic skin sensing unit includes a plurality of independent data processing units vertically integrated below the sensors corresponding to the plurality of sensors one by one; The data processing unit is used to perform signal extraction, integration, sampling, and output processing on the signal collected by the sensor to obtain the plantar pressure data.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the system further includes a sensor unit replacement module; The sensor unit replacement module is used to determine the number of damaged sensors in the electronic skin sensor unit based on the plantar pressure data, and when the number is greater than a threshold number, generate a replacement instruction to instruct the replacement of the electronic skin sensor unit.

[0016] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: the balance control system of the bipedal robot provided by the present invention can be realized by attaching an electronic skin sensor unit to the sole of the bipedal robot, without setting a sensor inside the bipedal robot, thereby reducing the difficulty of installation. Moreover, the surface-attaching method also facilitates the replacement of the electronic skin sensor unit, thereby reducing the difficulty of repairing the balance control system of the bipedal robot. Furthermore, the price of the electronic skin sensor unit is much lower than that of the inertial measurement unit and the six-dimensional force pressure sensor, thereby reducing the cost of the balance control system of the bipedal robot. At the same time, the electronic skin sensor unit is a three-dimensional sensor unit, that is, the obtained sole pressure data is three-dimensional data, the data is simple and the data volume is small, thereby improving the efficiency of determining the gait, thereby improving the response rate of the balance control. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0018] Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a balance control system for a bipedal robot provided by the present invention; Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the electronic skin sensor unit provided by the present invention; Figure 3 A schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the electronic skin sensor unit provided by the present invention; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the double-foot surface-mounted electronic skin sensor unit provided by the present invention; Figure 5 A pressure data distribution diagram when the gait provided by the present invention is a forward leaning gait; Figure 6 A pressure data distribution diagram when the gait provided by the present invention is a backward leaning gait; Figure 7 A pressure data distribution diagram when the gait provided by the present invention is left-leaning; Figure 8 A pressure data distribution diagram when the gait provided by the present invention is right-leaning; Fig. 9 A schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the electronic skin sensor unit provided by the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0020] It should be understood that the schematic drawings are not drawn to scale. The flowchart used in the present invention shows the operations implemented according to some embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that the operations of the flowchart can be implemented out of order, and the steps without logical context can be reversed in order or implemented simultaneously. In addition, those skilled in the art can add one or more other operations to the flowchart under the guidance of the content of the present invention, and can also remove one or more operations from the flowchart. Some of the block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically independent entities. These functional entities can be implemented in software form, or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different networks and / or processor systems and / or microcontroller systems.

[0021] Reference to an "embodiment" herein means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. The appearance of the phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0022] The present invention provides a balance control system for a biped robot, which is described in detail below.

[0023] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of the balance control system of a bipedal robot provided by the present invention is shown in FIG. Figure 1 As shown, the balance control system 10 of the biped robot includes: a signal processing center 200 and an electronic skin sensor unit 100 attached to the bottom of the biped robot; The electronic skin sensing unit 100 is used to collect the plantar pressure data of the biped robot; The signal processing center 200 is used to determine the gait of the biped robot based on the plantar pressure data, and to adjust the balance of the biped robot based on the gait; Among them, gait includes normal, forward leaning, backward leaning, left leaning and right leaning.

[0024] It should be noted that the electronic skin sensing unit 100 includes a substrate and at least one sensor disposed on the substrate, and adjacent sensors are connected via metal wires.

[0025] To facilitate surface mounting and positioning, the shape and contour of the base are exactly the same as those of the foot of the biped robot.

[0026] Compared with the prior art, the bipedal robot balance control system 10 provided in the embodiment of the present invention can be achieved by attaching the electronic skin sensor unit 100 to the sole of the bipedal robot, without setting the sensor inside the bipedal robot, thereby reducing the difficulty of installation. Moreover, the surface-attaching method also facilitates the replacement of the electronic skin sensor unit 100, thereby reducing the difficulty of repairing the bipedal robot balance control system 10. Furthermore, the price of the electronic skin sensor unit 100 is much lower than that of the inertial measurement unit and the six-dimensional force pressure sensor, thereby reducing the cost of the bipedal robot balance control system 10. At the same time, the electronic skin sensor unit 100 is a three-dimensional sensor unit, that is, the obtained sole pressure data is three-dimensional data, the data is simple and the data volume is small, which improves the efficiency of determining the gait, thereby improving the response rate of the balance control.

[0027] Since the biped robot cannot maintain balance, when it is unstable, both the left and right feet will show pressure characteristics different from those in the balanced state. In other words, the overall balance of the biped robot can be analyzed by analyzing only the left or right foot. Therefore, in order to further reduce the cost of balance control, in some embodiments of the present invention, the electronic skin sensor unit 100 is attached to the sole of the left foot or the sole of the right foot.

[0028] The embodiment of the present invention further reduces the usage of the electronic skin sensor unit 100 by providing the electronic skin sensor unit 100 only on the sole of the left foot or the sole of the right foot, thereby achieving the purpose of further reducing the cost of balance control.

[0029] In order to achieve accurate recognition of multiple gaits such as forward leaning, backward leaning, left leaning and right leaning, in some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 2 As shown, the electronic skin sensing unit 100 includes a first left sensor 110 and a first right sensor 120 disposed in a sole area, and a second left sensor 130 and a second right sensor 140 disposed in a heel area.

[0030] The embodiment of the present invention arranges four sensors at four different positions accordingly, and can realize accurate recognition of multiple gaits including forward leaning, backward leaning, left leaning and right leaning through the four sensors.

[0031] Specifically, the plantar pressure data includes first left pressure data, first right pressure data, second left pressure data, and second right pressure data corresponding to the first left sensor, the first right sensor, the second left sensor, and the second right sensor, respectively; then Figure 1 As shown, the signal processing center 200 includes a data processing module 210, a gait determination module 220 and a balance adjustment module 230; The data processing module 210 is used to determine the front foot pressure based on the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, determine the rear foot pressure based on the second left pressure data and the second right pressure data, determine the left side pressure based on the first left pressure data and the second left pressure data, and determine the right side pressure based on the first right pressure data and the second right pressure data; The gait determination module 220 is used to determine that the gait is normal when the pressure of the front foot, the pressure of the rear foot, the pressure of the left side and the pressure of the right side are equal; when the pressure difference between the pressure of the front foot and the pressure of the rear foot is greater than the pressure threshold, and the pressure of the front foot is greater than the pressure of the rear foot, the gait is determined to be forward leaning; when the pressure difference between the pressure of the front foot and the pressure of the rear foot is greater than the pressure threshold, and the pressure of the front foot is less than the pressure of the rear foot, the gait is determined to be backward leaning; when the pressure difference between the pressure of the left side and the pressure of the right side is greater than the pressure threshold, and the pressure of the left side is greater than the pressure of the right side, the gait is determined to be left leaning; when the pressure difference between the pressure of the left side and the pressure of the right side is greater than the pressure threshold, and the pressure of the left side is less than the pressure of the right side, the gait is determined to be right leaning; The balance adjustment module 230 is used to generate control instructions for controlling the biped robot's posture adjustment actuator based on the gait, and to perform balance adjustment on the biped robot based on the control instructions.

[0032] Among them, the front foot pressure is the average of the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, the back foot pressure is the average of the second left pressure data and the second right pressure data, the left side pressure is the average of the first left pressure data and the second left pressure data, and the right side pressure is the average of the first right pressure data and the second right pressure data.

[0033] The embodiment of the present invention uses the average of the pressure data collected by the two sensors to represent the forefoot pressure, rear foot pressure, left side pressure and right side pressure, thereby improving the forefoot pressure, rear foot pressure, left side pressure and right side pressure, and reducing accidental events, such as the influence of small bumps on the ground on the forefoot pressure, rear foot pressure, left side pressure and right side pressure, thereby achieving accurate determination of gait and improving the accuracy of balance control.

[0034] The pressure threshold may be adaptively set according to factors such as the environment in which the bipedal robot is located, and is not specifically limited here.

[0035] To further improve the accuracy of gait determination, in some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 3 As shown, the electronic skin sensing unit 100 is a sensing array composed of a plurality of sensors 101 .

[0036] The embodiment of the present invention greatly increases the number of data in the plantar pressure data by setting a sensor array composed of multiple sensors 101 as the electronic skin sensor unit 100. The plantar pressure data includes the pressure data at any position of the plantar, thereby achieving a comprehensive evaluation of the plantar pressure, thereby further avoiding the influence of accidental events on gait results, and further improving the accuracy of gait recognition.

[0037] based on Figure 3 The electronic skin sensor unit in the foot includes a plurality of pressure sub-data corresponding to the plurality of sensors one by one; and when the biped robot has unbalanced gaits such as left leaning, right leaning, forward leaning and backward leaning, it is necessary to judge the pressure from the front, back, left and right directions respectively to realize accurate recognition of the gait, therefore, in some embodiments of the present invention, such as Figure 1 As shown, the signal processing center 200 includes a data partitioning module 240; The data division module 240 is used to divide multiple pressure sub-data into a left-front pressure data set, a right-front pressure data set, a left-rear pressure data set and a right-rear pressure data set based on a preset area range, and use the average value of the left-front pressure data set as the first left pressure data, the average value of the right-front pressure data set as the first right pressure data set, the average value of the left-rear pressure data set as the second left pressure data, and the average value of the right-rear pressure data set as the second right pressure data.

[0038] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the preset area range is as follows: Figure 3 As shown by the dotted lines in , multiple pressure sub-data are divided into four small data sets: front, back, left, and right.

[0039] In other words, the embodiment of the present invention sets the electronic skin sensor unit 100 as a sensor array and replaces the pressure value detected by a single sensor with the average pressure value of multiple sensors, thereby avoiding the influence of accidental events to the greatest extent and ensuring the accuracy of the obtained first left pressure data, first right pressure data, second left pressure data and second right pressure data, thereby ensuring the accuracy of gait recognition.

[0040] In actual applications, gait recognition by the electronic skin sensor unit 100 attached to the single foot surface may result in errors in recognition. For example, when there is a pothole on the road where the bipedal robot is located, when the bipedal robot steps on the pothole, the single foot surface will recognize this situation as leaning forward, backward, left or right, but the actual gait of the bipedal robot is normal.

[0041] To avoid the above situation, in some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 4 As shown, the electronic skin sensor unit 100 includes a left electronic skin subunit 1001 attached to the sole of the left foot and a right electronic skin subunit 1002 attached to the sole of the right foot.

[0042] The embodiment of the present invention can improve the accuracy and reliability of gait recognition by attaching a left electronic skin sub-unit 1001 and a right electronic skin sub-unit 1002 on the soles of the left foot and the soles of the right foot respectively, and recognize gait based on the left electronic skin sub-unit 1001 and the right electronic skin sub-unit 1002 at the same time, thereby further improving the reliability and accuracy of balance control.

[0043] based on Figure 4 In the electronic skin sensor unit 100, the plantar pressure data includes left plantar pressure data corresponding to the left electronic skin sub-unit 1001 and right plantar pressure data corresponding to the right electronic skin sub-unit 1002.

[0044] The data processing module 210 is further used to calculate the left data mean of the left plantar pressure data and the right data mean of the right plantar pressure data; The gait determination module 220 is further configured to determine that the gait is left-leaning when the left data mean is greater than the right data mean, and to determine that the gait is right-leaning when the left data mean is less than the right data mean.

[0045] The embodiment of the present invention realizes rapid judgment of left-leaning and right-leaning gait by overall comparison of the pressure data of the left foot and the right foot.

[0046] In actual application scenarios, when the left data mean and the right data mean are equal, left or right leaning may also occur. For example: when left or right leaning occurs, the distribution of the left plantar pressure data and the right plantar pressure data is the same, and the left data mean and the right data mean will be equal. To avoid this situation where the left and right leanings cannot be effectively identified, in some embodiments of the present invention, the left plantar pressure data includes left front pressure data of the left foot, right front pressure data of the left foot, left rear pressure data of the left foot, and right rear pressure data of the left foot, and the right plantar pressure data includes right front pressure data of the right foot, right front pressure data of the right foot, left rear pressure data of the right foot, and right rear pressure data of the right foot; The gait determination module 220 is also used to determine the left foot gait based on the left front pressure data of the left foot, the right front pressure data of the left foot, the left rear pressure data of the left foot and the right rear pressure data of the left foot, and to determine the right foot gait based on the left front pressure data of the right foot, the right front pressure data of the right foot, the left rear pressure data of the right foot and the right rear pressure data of the right foot; when the left foot gait and the right foot gait are the same, the left foot gait or the right foot gait is used as the gait of the bipedal robot.

[0047] The embodiment of the present invention ensures the accuracy of the gait evaluation of the left foot and the right foot by performing refined gait evaluation on the left foot and the right foot respectively, thereby improving the accuracy of the overall gait evaluation of the bipedal robot.

[0048] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 and Figure 6 As shown in the figure, the square box represents the sensor, and the color of the square box changes from dark to light, indicating that the pressure increases from small to large. Figure 5 If the gaits of the left and right feet in the figure are both forward-leaning, then the gait of the biped robot is forward-leaning. Figure 6 If the gaits of the left and right feet in the figure are both backward-leaning, then the gait of the bipedal robot is backward-leaning.

[0049] It should be noted that: when the pressure data of the left foot is all 0, that is, when the left foot is lifted, the judgment of left leaning, right leaning, forward leaning and backward leaning depends only on the right foot; when the pressure data of the right foot is all 0, the judgment of left leaning, right leaning, forward leaning and backward leaning depends only on the left foot.

[0050] For example, Figure 7The pressure data of the right foot are all 0, and the pressure data of the left foot increases from right to left. The gait of the left foot is left-leaning, so the overall gait of the bipedal robot is left-leaning. Figure 8 The pressure data of the left foot are all 0, and the pressure data of the right foot decreases from right to left. The gait of the right foot is right-leaning, so the overall gait of the bipedal robot is right-leaning.

[0051] From the above description, it can be seen that the judgment of gait depends on the acquisition of plantar pressure data. Ensuring the accuracy of plantar pressure data is a prerequisite for ensuring accurate gait recognition. Therefore, in some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 1 As shown, the biped robot balance control system 10 further includes a sensor unit verification module 300; The sensor unit verification module 300 is used to obtain the ground parameters of the ground where the bipedal robot is located, and determine the target sensor parameters of the electronic skin sensor unit 100 based on the ground parameters and the preset corresponding relationship. When the sensor parameters of the electronic skin sensor unit 100 do not match the target sensor parameters, a sensor unit replacement instruction is generated to instruct the replacement of the electronic skin sensor unit 100; Among them, the preset corresponding relationship is the corresponding relationship between the ground parameters and the sensing parameters of the electronic skin sensing unit.

[0052] Before acquiring the plantar pressure data, the embodiment of the present invention first verifies the sensing parameters of the electronic skin sensing unit 100 to ensure the compatibility of the electronic skin sensing unit 100 with the ground where the bipedal robot is located, thereby improving the accuracy of the collected plantar pressure data.

[0053] Among them, ground parameters include ground material and hardness, and sensor parameters include range and accuracy.

[0054] Specifically, when the ground hardness is high, an electronic skin sensor unit with a smaller range and higher accuracy should be selected; when the ground hardness is low, an electronic skin sensor unit with a larger range and lower accuracy should be selected.

[0055] It can be seen from the above description that the electronic skin sensor unit 100 in the embodiment of the present invention needs to be replaced frequently. In order to improve the convenience of replacement and reduce the replacement cost, in some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 3 As shown, the electronic skin sensor unit 100 includes a pluggable signal interface 102 , and the signal processing center 200 is connected to the electronic skin sensor unit 100 via the pluggable signal interface 102 .

[0056] The embodiment of the present invention can reduce the replacement cost of the electronic skin sensor unit and improve the replacement efficiency by providing a pluggable signal interface 102 .

[0057] It should be understood that the signal collected by the sensor 101 needs to be processed by the corresponding data processing unit. From the above description, it can be seen that the more sensors there are in the electronic skin sensor unit 100, the more accurate the balance control is. Since the sole area is limited, in order to arrange as many sensors and data processing units as possible in the limited sole area, in some embodiments of the present invention, Fig. 9 As shown, the electronic skin sensing unit 100 further includes a data processing unit 103 independently and vertically integrated below the sensor; The data processing unit 103 is used to perform signal extraction, integration, sampling, and output processing on the signal collected by the sensor 101 to obtain plantar pressure data.

[0058] The data processing unit 103 is an integration circuit, which is vertically integrated below the sensor 101 .

[0059] The embodiment of the present invention saves the additional layout range required for the data processing unit 103 by setting up an independent data processing unit 103 vertically integrated below the sensor 101, that is, the number of sensors 101 and data processing units 103 in the same area is increased, thereby improving the resolution of the electronic skin sensor unit 100. When a sensor is damaged, it does not interfere with other sensors in its row / column, ensuring the normal output and display of the pressure distribution image.

[0060] It can be seen from the above description that when a few sensors are damaged, it will not affect the balance control. In order to accurately determine the replacement time of the electronic skin sensor unit 100, in some embodiments of the present invention, such as Figure 1 As shown, the biped robot balance control system 10 further includes a sensor unit replacement module 400; The sensor unit replacement module 400 is used to determine the number of damaged sensors in the electronic skin sensor unit 100 based on the plantar pressure data, and when the number is greater than a threshold number, a replacement instruction is generated to instruct the electronic skin sensor unit 100 to be replaced.

[0061] In this way, the embodiments of the present invention can ensure that some sensors can still be used normally after failing due to force majeure, and only need to be replaced after being damaged on a large scale, thereby extending the service life of a single sensor array.

[0062] It should be noted that when a sensor is damaged, the average of the signals obtained by the eight sensors directly above, directly below, directly left, directly right, upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right of the sensor is used as the data of this sensor.

[0063] In summary, the biped robot balance control system proposed in the embodiment of the present invention mounts the electronic skin sensor unit 100 on the sole of the humanoid robot to detect the force of the robot's foot to judge the robot's gait in real time, and adjusts the balance of the biped robot based on the gait, thereby ensuring the biped robot's ability to maintain balance. In addition, the electronic skin sensor unit has a low cost and is designed with a pluggable signal interface, which reduces the cost of configuration deployment and maintenance and replacement, and realizes the detachable accessories, thereby improving the overall maintainability and environmental adaptability of the biped robot's balance control system.

[0064] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a bipedal robot, including a balance control system of the bipedal robot, and the balance control system of the bipedal robot is the balance control system of the bipedal robot in any one of the above embodiments.

[0065] The above is a detailed introduction to the balance control system of a bipedal robot provided by the present invention. Specific examples are used in this article to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method of the present invention and its core idea. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of ​​the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

Claims

1. A balance control system for a bipedal robot, characterized in that: include: A signal processing center and an electronic skin sensor unit attached to the sole of the bipedal robot; The electronic skin sensing unit is used to collect the plantar pressure data of the bipedal robot; The signal processing center is used to determine the gait of the bipedal robot based on the plantar pressure data, and to adjust the balance of the bipedal robot based on the gait; The gait includes normal, forward leaning, backward leaning, left leaning and right leaning.

2. The biped robot balance control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The biped robot comprises a left foot and a right foot, and the electronic skin sensing unit is attached to the sole of the left foot or the sole of the right foot.

3. The biped robot balance control system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The electronic skin sensing unit includes a first left sensor and a first right sensor arranged in a sole area, and a second left sensor and a second right sensor arranged in a heel area, and the plantar pressure data includes first left pressure data, first right pressure data, second left pressure data and second right pressure data corresponding to the first left sensor, the first right sensor, the second left sensor and the second right sensor respectively; The signal processing center includes a data processing module, a gait determination module and a balance adjustment module; The data processing module is used to determine the front foot pressure based on the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, determine the rear foot pressure based on the second left pressure data and the second right pressure data, determine the left side pressure based on the first left pressure data and the second left pressure data, and determine the right side pressure based on the first right pressure data and the second right pressure data; The gait determination module is used to determine that the gait is normal when the front foot pressure, the rear foot pressure, the left side pressure and the right side pressure are equal; When the pressure difference between the front foot pressure and the rear foot pressure is greater than the pressure threshold, and the front foot pressure is greater than the rear foot pressure, the gait is determined to be forward leaning; when the pressure difference between the front foot pressure and the rear foot pressure is greater than the pressure threshold, and the front foot pressure is less than the rear foot pressure, the gait is determined to be backward leaning; when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold, and the left side pressure is greater than the right side pressure, the gait is determined to be left leaning; when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold, and the left side pressure is less than the right side pressure, the gait is determined to be right leaning; The balance adjustment module is used to generate a control instruction for controlling the posture adjustment actuator of the biped robot based on the gait, and to perform balance adjustment on the biped robot based on the control instruction.

4. The biped robot balance control system according to claim 3, characterized in that: The electronic skin sensing unit is a sensing array composed of a plurality of sensors, and the plantar pressure data includes a plurality of pressure sub-data corresponding to the plurality of sensors one by one; the signal processing center includes a data division module; The data division module is used to divide the multiple pressure sub-data into a left-front pressure data set, a right-front pressure data set, a left-rear pressure data set and a right-rear pressure data set based on a preset area range, and use the average value of the left-front pressure data set as the first left pressure data, the average value of the right-front pressure data set as the first right pressure data set, the average value of the left-rear pressure data set as the second left pressure data, and the average value of the right-rear pressure data set as the second right pressure data.

5. The biped robot balance control system according to claim 3, characterized in that: The electronic skin sensing unit includes a left electronic skin subunit attached to the sole of the left foot and a right electronic skin subunit attached to the sole of the right foot; The plantar pressure data includes left plantar pressure data corresponding to the left electronic skin subunit and right plantar pressure data corresponding to the right electronic skin subunit; The data processing module is also used to calculate the left data mean of the left plantar pressure data and the right data mean of the right plantar pressure data; The gait determination module is further configured to determine that the gait is left-leaning when the left data mean is greater than the right data mean, and to determine that the gait is right-leaning when the left data mean is less than the right data mean.

6. The biped robot balance control system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The left foot sole pressure data includes left foot left front pressure data, left foot right front pressure data, left foot left rear pressure data and left foot right rear pressure data, and the right foot sole pressure data includes right foot left front pressure data, right foot right front pressure data, right foot left rear pressure data and right foot right rear pressure data; The gait determination module is also used to determine the left foot gait based on the left front pressure data of the left foot, the right front pressure data of the left foot, the left rear pressure data of the left foot and the right rear pressure data of the left foot, and to determine the right foot gait based on the left front pressure data of the right foot, the right front pressure data of the right foot, the left rear pressure data of the right foot and the right rear pressure data of the right foot; when the left foot gait and the right foot gait are the same, the left foot gait or the right foot gait is used as the gait of the bipedal robot.

7. The biped robot balance control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system also includes a sensor unit verification module; The sensor unit verification module is used to obtain the ground parameters of the ground where the bipedal robot is located, and determine the target sensor parameters of the electronic skin sensor unit based on the ground parameters and a preset corresponding relationship, and when the sensor parameters of the electronic skin sensor unit do not match the target sensor parameters, generate a sensor unit replacement instruction to instruct to replace the electronic skin sensor unit; The preset corresponding relationship is the corresponding relationship between the ground parameters and the sensing parameters of the electronic skin sensing unit.

8. The biped robot balance control system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The electronic skin sensor unit includes a pluggable signal interface, and the signal processing center is connected to the electronic skin sensor unit via the pluggable signal interface.

9. The biped robot balance control system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The electronic skin sensing unit includes a plurality of independent data processing units vertically integrated below the sensors corresponding to the plurality of sensors one by one; The data processing unit is used to perform signal extraction, integration, sampling, and output processing on the signal collected by the sensor to obtain the plantar pressure data.

10. The biped robot balance control system according to claim 9, characterized in that: The system also includes a sensor unit replacement module; The sensor unit replacement module is used to determine the number of damaged sensors in the electronic skin sensor unit based on the plantar pressure data, and when the number is greater than a threshold number, generate a replacement instruction to instruct the replacement of the electronic skin sensor unit.

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