A balance control system for a biped robot

Abstract

The application provides a balance control system of a biped robot, and belongs to the technical field of humanoid robots, and the system comprises a signal processing center and an electronic skin sensing unit attached to the sole of the biped robot; the electronic skin sensing unit is used for collecting the sole pressure data of the biped robot; the signal processing center is used for determining the gait of the biped robot based on the sole pressure data, and adjusting the balance of the biped robot based on the gait; wherein the gait comprises normal, forward inclination, backward inclination, left inclination and right inclination. The application realizes low-cost and high-efficiency balance control of the biped robot.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of humanoid robots, and particularly relates to a balance control system of a biped robot. BACKGROUND

[0002] A humanoid robot is a robot with a humanoid appearance and functions that imitate humans. The biggest difference between the humanoid robot and other types of robots is that the humanoid robot has a human appearance, which makes it more adaptable to human work and life scenarios and has human-computer interaction capabilities, and can be used in the future to alleviate the labor shortage in various production and life links. Good balance ability is a prerequisite for all functions to be realized. The balance and mobility of a humanoid robot are mainly realized by the lower limbs. There are two forms of "lower limbs" for humanoid robots. One is a wheeled chassis, and the other is a biped. The balance, stability and carrying capacity of the humanoid robot with a wheeled chassis are all better, but it has a higher requirement for the working environment and can only move on flat surfaces, and cannot cope with uneven ground or climb stairs, so the range of movement is limited, thereby limiting the application range of this technical route. The humanoid robot with a biped has stronger obstacle avoidance ability and higher environmental adaptability, and can walk on complex ground, so it has a wider range of movement and can better meet the original intention of designing a humanoid robot and is favored.

[0003] The biped robot has certain difficulties in maintaining gait stability when moving on uneven ground because the contact area between the foot and the ground is small. Researchers have proposed various theories and methods to improve the balance maintenance ability of the robot. There are two methods for improving the balance maintenance ability of the biped robot in the prior art. One method, disclosed in CN116909127A, is to obtain IMU information based on multiple inertial measurement units arranged on the head, legs and hips of the biped robot to achieve balance. The other method is to arrange a six-dimensional force pressure sensor array inside the sole of the biped 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. The inertial measurement unit and the six-dimensional force pressure sensor need to be integrated inside the structure of the biped robot, which has high installation difficulty, poor maintainability, and high cost of the inertial measurement unit and the six-dimensional force pressure sensor. 2. The data volume of the inertial measurement unit and the six-dimensional force pressure sensor is large, and the determination process for determining whether the biped robot is balanced is complex, which results in poor real-time performance of balance adjustment.

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a balance control system of a biped robot for realizing low-cost and fast balance control. SUMMARY

[0005] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a balance control system of a biped robot for realizing low-cost and fast balance control.

[0006] In one aspect, to solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a balance control system of a biped robot, comprising: a signal processing center and an electronic skin sensing unit attached to the sole of the biped robot;

[0007] The electronic skin sensing unit is used to collect the sole pressure data of the biped robot;

[0008] The signal processing center is used to determine the gait of the biped robot based on the sole pressure data, and to adjust the balance of the biped robot based on the gait;

[0009] The gait includes normal, forward tilt, backward tilt, left tilt and right tilt.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the biped 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 right foot.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the electronic skin sensing unit includes a first left sensor and a first right sensor arranged in the instep region, and a second left sensor and a second right sensor arranged in the heel region, and the sole 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;

[0012] The signal processing center includes a data processing module, a gait determination module and a balance adjustment module;

[0013] The data processing module is used to determine the forefoot pressure based on the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, to determine the hindfoot pressure based on the second left pressure data and the second right pressure data, to determine the left side pressure based on the first left pressure data and the second left pressure data, and to determine the right side pressure based on the first right pressure data and the second right pressure data;

[0014] The gait determination module is used to determine the gait as normal when the forefoot pressure, the hindfoot pressure, the left side pressure and the right side pressure are equal, to determine the gait as forward tilt when the pressure difference between the forefoot pressure and the hindfoot pressure is greater than a pressure threshold value and the forefoot pressure is greater than the hindfoot pressure, to determine the gait as backward tilt when the pressure difference between the forefoot pressure and the hindfoot pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value and the forefoot pressure is less than the hindfoot pressure, to determine the gait as left tilt when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value and the left side pressure is greater than the right side pressure, and to determine the gait as right tilt when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value and the left side pressure is less than the right side pressure.

[0015] The balance adjustment module is configured to generate a control instruction for controlling a 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.

[0016] In a possible implementation, 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; and the signal processing center includes a data division module.

[0017] The data division module is configured to divide the plurality of 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 to take an average value of the left front pressure data set as the first left pressure data, take an average value of the right front pressure data set as the first right pressure data, take an average value of the left rear pressure data set as the second left pressure data, and take an average value of the right rear pressure data set as the second right pressure data.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the electronic skin sensing unit includes a left electronic skin sub-unit attached to a left plantar surface of the left foot and a right electronic skin sub-unit attached to a right plantar surface of the right foot.

[0019] The plantar pressure data includes left plantar pressure data corresponding to the left electronic skin sub-unit and right plantar pressure data corresponding to the right electronic skin sub-unit.

[0020] The data processing module is further configured to calculate a left data mean value of the left plantar pressure data and a right data mean value of the right plantar pressure data.

[0021] The gait determination module is further configured to determine that the gait is left-leaning when the left data mean value is greater than the right data mean value, and determine that the gait is right-leaning when the left data mean value is less than the right data mean value.

[0022] In a possible implementation, the left 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 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.

[0023] The gait determination module is further configured to determine a left foot gait based on the left foot left front pressure data, the left foot right front pressure data, the left foot left rear pressure data and the left foot right rear pressure data, determine a right foot gait based on the right foot left front pressure data, the right foot right front pressure data, the right foot left rear pressure data and the right foot right rear pressure data, and determine the left foot gait or the right foot gait as the gait of the biped robot when the left foot gait and the right foot gait are the same.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the system further comprises a sensing unit verification module.

[0025] The sensing unit verification module is configured to acquire a ground parameter of a ground on which the biped robot is located, and determine a target sensing parameter of the electronic skin sensing unit based on the ground parameter and a preset corresponding relationship, and generate a sensing unit replacement instruction when the sensing parameter of the electronic skin sensing unit does not match the target sensing parameter, to instruct to replace the electronic skin sensing unit.

[0026] The preset corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the ground parameter and the sensing parameter of the electronic skin sensing unit.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the electronic skin sensing unit comprises a pluggable signal interface, and the signal processing center is connected with the electronic skin sensing unit through the pluggable signal interface.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the electronic skin sensing unit comprises a plurality of data processing units independently vertically integrated below the plurality of sensors in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of sensors.

[0029] The data processing unit is configured to perform signal extraction, integration, sampling and output processing on the signal collected by the sensor, to obtain the plantar pressure data.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the system further comprises a sensing unit replacement module.

[0031] The sensing unit replacement module is configured to determine a number of damaged sensors in the electronic skin sensing unit based on the plantar pressure data, and generate a replacement instruction to instruct to replace the electronic skin sensing unit when the number is greater than a threshold number.

[0032] The beneficial effects of the present application are: the balance control system of the biped robot provided by the present application can be realized by pasting an electronic skin sensing unit on the sole of the biped robot, without the need to set a sensor inside the biped robot, thereby reducing the installation difficulty, and the pasting mode is also convenient for replacement of the electronic skin sensing unit, thereby reducing the maintenance difficulty of the balance control system of the biped robot. Further, the price of the electronic skin sensing 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 biped robot. Meanwhile, the electronic skin sensing unit is a three-dimensional sensing unit, that is, the obtained sole pressure data is three-dimensional data, the data is simple and the data amount is small, thereby improving the determination efficiency of the gait and further improving the response rate of the balance control. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0033] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiment description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can also be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor.

[0034] Figure 1 An embodiment structure schematic diagram of the balance control system of the biped robot provided by the present application;

[0035] Figure 2 An embodiment structure schematic diagram of the electronic skin sensing unit provided by the present application;

[0036] Figure 3 Another embodiment structure schematic diagram of the electronic skin sensing unit provided by the present application;

[0037] Figure 4 An embodiment structure schematic diagram of the biped pasting electronic skin sensing unit provided by the present application;

[0038] Figure 5 A pressure data distribution diagram when the gait is forward leaning provided by the present application;

[0039] Figure 6 A pressure data distribution diagram when the gait is backward leaning provided by the present application;

[0040] Figure 7 A pressure data distribution diagram when the gait is left leaning provided by the present application;

[0041] Figure 8 A pressure data distribution diagram when the gait is right leaning provided by the present application;

[0042] Figure 9 An embodiment structure schematic diagram of the electronic skin sensing unit provided by the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by a person skilled in the art without creative work fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0044] It should be understood that the schematic drawings are not drawn according to the actual proportions. The flowcharts used in the present application show the operations implemented according to some embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the operations of the flowcharts can be implemented in no order, the steps without logical context relationship can be reversed in order or implemented simultaneously. In addition, one or more other operations can be added to the flowcharts or one or more operations can be removed from the flowcharts by a person skilled in the art under the guidance of the content of the present application. Some block diagrams shown in the drawings are functional entities, which do not necessarily have to correspond to physically or logically independent entities. These functional entities can be implemented in the form of software, or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different network and / or processor systems and / or microcontroller systems.

[0045] Reference to "embodiments" herein means that the specific features, structures or characteristics described in connection with the embodiments can be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The phrase appears at various places in the specification does not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment, nor is it necessarily independent or alternative embodiments to other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by a person skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

[0046] The present application provides a balance control system of a biped robot, which is described in detail below.

[0047] Figure 1 An embodiment structure schematic diagram of the balance control system of the biped robot provided by the present application is shown in Figure 1 The balance control system 10 of the biped robot includes a signal processing center 200 and an electronic skin sensing unit 100 attached to the sole of the biped robot.

[0048] The electronic skin sensing unit 100 is used to collect the sole pressure data of the biped robot.

[0049] The signal processing center 200 is used to determine the gait of the biped robot based on the sole pressure data, and to adjust the balance of the biped robot based on the gait.

[0050] The gait includes normal, forward tilt, backward tilt, left tilt and right tilt.

[0051] It should be noted that the electronic skin sensing unit 100 includes a substrate and at least one sensor arranged on the substrate, and adjacent sensors are connected through metal leads.

[0052] In order to facilitate surface attachment and positioning, the shape and contour of the substrate are exactly the same as the foot contour and shape of the biped robot.

[0053] Compared with the prior art, the balance control system 10 of the biped robot provided by the embodiment of the application can be obtained by attaching the electronic skin sensing unit 100 on the sole of the biped robot, without the need to arrange sensors inside the biped robot, thereby reducing the installation difficulty, and the surface attachment method also facilitates the replacement of the electronic skin sensing unit 100, thereby reducing the maintenance difficulty of the balance control system 10 of the biped robot. Further, the price of the electronic skin sensing 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 balance control system 10 of the biped robot. At the same time, the electronic skin sensing unit 100 is a three-dimensional sensing unit, that is, the obtained sole pressure data is three-dimensional data, the data is simple and the data amount is small, thereby improving the determination efficiency of the gait, and further improving the response rate of the balance control.

[0054] Since the biped robot cannot maintain balance, when instability occurs, the left foot and the right foot will exhibit different pressure characteristics from the balanced state. In other words, only the left foot or the right foot needs to be analyzed to analyze the overall balance of the biped robot. Therefore, in order to further reduce the cost of balance control, in some embodiments of the application, the electronic skin sensing unit 100 is attached to the sole of the left foot or the sole of the right foot.

[0055] The embodiment of the application further reduces the use amount of the electronic skin sensing unit 100 by arranging the electronic skin sensing 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 balance control cost.

[0056] In order to realize accurate identification of multiple gaits such as forward inclination, backward inclination, left inclination and right inclination, in some embodiments of the application, as shown in Figure 2 The electronic skin sensing unit 100 includes a first left sensor 110 arranged in the instep region, a first right sensor 120, and a second left sensor 130 and a second right sensor 140 arranged in the heel region.

[0057] The embodiment of the application can realize accurate identification of multiple gaits such as forward inclination, backward inclination, left inclination and right inclination through the four sensors arranged in the four different positions.

[0058] 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 as shown in the formula (1), the signal processing center 200 includes a data processing module 210, a gait determination module 220 and a balance adjustment module 230. Figure 1 The data processing module 210 is configured to determine the forefoot pressure based on the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, determine the hindfoot 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.

[0059] The data processing module 210 is configured to determine the forefoot pressure based on the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, determine the hindfoot 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.

[0060] The gait determination module 220 is configured to determine the gait as normal when the forefoot pressure, the hindfoot pressure, the left side pressure and the right side pressure are equal, determine the gait as forward leaning when the pressure difference between the forefoot pressure and the hindfoot pressure is greater than a pressure threshold value and the forefoot pressure is greater than the hindfoot pressure, determine the gait as backward leaning when the pressure difference between the forefoot pressure and the hindfoot pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value and the forefoot pressure is less than the hindfoot pressure, determine the gait as left leaning when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value and the left side pressure is greater than the right side pressure, and determine the gait as right leaning when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value and the left side pressure is less than the right side pressure.

[0061] The balance adjustment module 230 is configured to generate a control instruction for adjusting the posture of the biped robot based on the gait, and adjust the balance of the biped robot based on the control instruction.

[0062] The forefoot pressure is the average of the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, the hindfoot 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.

[0063] The embodiment of the present application represents the mean values of the pressure data collected by the two sensors as the forefoot pressure, the hindfoot pressure, the left side pressure and the right side pressure, improves the forefoot pressure, the hindfoot pressure, the left side pressure and the right side pressure, reduces the influence of occasional events such as small protrusions on the ground on the forefoot pressure, the hindfoot pressure, the left side pressure and the right side pressure, and thus realizes accurate determination of the gait and improves the accuracy of balance control.

[0064] The pressure threshold value can be adaptively set according to the environment in which the biped robot is located and other factors, and is not specifically limited herein.

[0065] To further improve the determination accuracy of the gait, in some embodiments of the present application, as shown in Figure 3 The electronic skin sensing unit 100 is a sensing array composed of multiple sensors 101.

[0066] The embodiment of the present application greatly increases the number of data in the plantar pressure data by setting the sensing array composed of multiple sensors 101 as the electronic skin sensing unit 100, the plantar pressure data including the pressure data of any position of the plantar, realizes the comprehensive evaluation of the plantar pressure, and further avoids the influence of the occasional events on the gait results, further improves the gait recognition accuracy.

[0067] Based on the electronic skin sensing unit in Figure 3 The plantar pressure data includes multiple pressure sub-data corresponding to the multiple sensors; and since when the biped robot appears the unbalanced gaits of left tilt, right tilt, forward tilt and backward tilt, the pressure needs to be judged from the front, rear, left and right four directions respectively to realize the accurate recognition of the gait, therefore, in some embodiments of the present application, as shown in Figure 1 The signal processing center 200 includes a data division module 240.

[0068] The data division module 240 is used for dividing 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 the preset area range, and taking 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.

[0069] In the specific embodiments of the present application, the preset area range is as shown by the dotted line in Figure 3 The multiple pressure sub-data are divided into four small data sets of front, rear, left and right.

[0070] In other words, the embodiment of the present application replaces the pressure value detected by a single sensor with the pressure average value of multiple sensors by setting the electronic skin sensing unit 100 as a sensor array, maximally avoids the influence of the occasional events, ensures the accuracy of the first left pressure data, the first right pressure data, the second left pressure data and the second right pressure data, and further ensures the accuracy of the gait recognition.

[0071] In practical applications, gait recognition by the single-foot surface-mounted electronic skin sensing unit 100 may result in recognition errors. For example, when a biped robot is on a road with a pit, when the biped robot steps on the pit, the single-foot surface-mounted manner will recognize this situation as forward tilt, backward tilt, left tilt and right tilt, but at this time the actual gait of the biped robot is normal.

[0072] To avoid the above situation, in some embodiments of the present application, as shown in Figure 4 The electronic skin sensing unit 100 includes a left electronic skin sub-unit 1001 mounted on the left foot sole and a right electronic skin sub-unit 1002 mounted on the right foot sole.

[0073] The embodiment of the present application improves the accuracy and reliability of gait recognition by mounting the left electronic skin sub-unit 1001 and the right electronic skin sub-unit 1002 on the left foot sole and the right foot sole respectively, and recognizing the gait based on the left electronic skin sub-unit 1001 and the right electronic skin sub-unit 1002 simultaneously, thereby further improving the reliability and accuracy of balance control.

[0074] Based on the electronic skin sensing unit 100 in Figure 4 The foot sole pressure data includes left foot sole pressure data corresponding to the left electronic skin sub-unit 1001 and right foot sole pressure data corresponding to the right electronic skin sub-unit 1002.

[0075] The data processing module 210 is further configured to calculate a left data mean of the left foot sole pressure data and a right data mean of the right foot sole pressure data.

[0076] The gait determination module 220 is further configured to determine that the gait is left tilt when the left data mean is greater than the right data mean, and determine that the gait is right tilt when the left data mean is less than the right data mean.

[0077] The embodiment of the present application realizes rapid judgment of left tilt and right tilt gait by comparing the pressure data of the left foot and the right foot as a whole.

[0078] In actual application scenarios, when the left data mean and the right data mean are equal, left tilt or right tilt may also occur. For example, when left tilt or right tilt occurs, the distribution of the left foot sole pressure data and the right foot sole pressure data is the same, and the left data mean and the right data mean may be equal. To avoid this situation, in some embodiments of the present application, 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.

[0079] The gait determination module 220 is further configured to determine a left foot gait based on the left foot left front pressure data, the left foot right front pressure data, the left foot left rear pressure data and the left foot right rear pressure data, determine a right foot gait based on the right foot left front pressure data, the right foot right front pressure data, the right foot left rear pressure data and the right foot right rear pressure data, and determine the gait of the biped robot as the left foot gait or the right foot gait when the left foot gait and the right foot gait are the same.

[0080] The embodiment of the present application ensures the accuracy of the gait evaluation of the left foot and the right foot by performing fine gait evaluation on the left foot and the right foot respectively, and further improves the accuracy of the overall gait evaluation of the biped robot.

[0081] In specific embodiments of the present application, as shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 , the square boxes in the figure represent sensors, and the colors of the square boxes represent the pressure from small to large from deep to shallow. Then Figure 5 the gaits of the left foot and the right foot in the figure are all forward-leaning, and the gait of the biped robot is forward-leaning, Figure 6 the gaits of the left foot and the right foot in the figure are all backward-leaning, and the gait of the biped robot is backward-leaning.

[0082] It should be noted that: when the pressure data of the left foot are all 0, i.e., the left foot is lifted, the judgments of left-leaning, right-leaning, forward-leaning and backward-leaning depend only on the right foot, and when the pressure data of the right foot are all 0, the judgments of left-leaning, right-leaning, forward-leaning and backward-leaning depend only on the left foot.

[0083] For example, Figure 7 in the figure, the pressure data of the right foot are all 0, the pressure data of the left foot increase from right to left in order, the gait of the left foot is left-leaning, and therefore the overall gait of the biped robot is left-leaning. Figure 8 in the figure, the pressure data of the left foot are all 0, the pressure data of the right foot decrease from right to left in order, the gait of the right foot is right-leaning, and therefore the overall gait of the biped robot is right-leaning.

[0084] As can be seen from the above description: the judgment of the gait depends on the acquisition of the plantar pressure data, and ensuring the accuracy of the plantar pressure data is a prerequisite for ensuring the accurate identification of the gait. Therefore, in some embodiments of the present application, as shown in Figure 1 , the balance control system 10 of the biped robot further comprises a sensing unit verification module 300;

[0085] The sensing unit verification module 300 is configured to acquire ground parameters of a ground where the biped robot is located, and determine target sensing parameters of the electronic skin sensing unit 100 based on the ground parameters and a preset corresponding relationship. When the sensing parameters of the electronic skin sensing unit 100 do not match the target sensing parameters, a sensing unit replacement instruction is generated to instruct to replace the electronic skin sensing unit 100.

[0086] The preset corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the ground parameters and sensing parameters of the electronic skin sensing unit.

[0087] The embodiment of the application first checks the sensing parameters of the electronic skin sensing unit 100 before acquiring the plantar pressure data, ensures the adaptability of the electronic skin sensing unit 100 to the ground of the biped robot, and improves the accuracy of the collected plantar pressure data.

[0088] The ground parameters include ground material and hardness, and the sensing parameters include range and accuracy.

[0089] Specifically, when the ground hardness is high, an electronic skin sensing unit with small range and high accuracy should be selected, and when the ground hardness is low, an electronic skin sensing unit with large range and low accuracy should be selected.

[0090] As can be seen from the above description, the electronic skin sensing unit 100 in the embodiment of the application needs to be replaced frequently, in order to improve the convenience of replacement and reduce the replacement cost, in some embodiments of the application, as shown in Figure 3 The electronic skin sensing unit 100 includes a pluggable signal interface 102, and the signal processing center 200 is connected with the electronic skin sensing unit 100 through the pluggable signal interface 102.

[0091] The embodiment of the application can reduce the replacement cost of the electronic skin sensing unit and improve the replacement efficiency by setting the pluggable signal interface 102.

[0092] It should be understood that: the signal collected by the sensor 101 needs to be processed by the corresponding data processing unit, and as can be seen from the above description: the more the number of sensors in the electronic skin sensing unit 100, the more accurate the balance control, and since the foot area is limited, in order to arrange as many sensors and data processing units as possible in the limited foot area, in some embodiments of the application, as shown in Figure 9 The electronic skin sensing unit 100 further includes a data processing unit 103 which is independently vertically integrated below the sensor;

[0093] The data processing unit 103 is used for signal extraction, integration, sampling, output processing of the signal collected by the sensor 101, and obtaining the plantar pressure data.

[0094] The data processing unit 103 is an integration circuit which is vertically integrated below the sensor 101.

[0095] The embodiment of the present application saves the additional layout range required by the data processing unit 103 by arranging the data processing unit 103 independently and vertically integrated below the sensor 101, that is, the number of the sensor 101 and the data processing unit 103 in the same area is increased, and thus the resolution of the electronic skin sensing unit 100 is improved. When a certain sensor is damaged, it does not interfere with other sensors in the same row / column, and the pressure distribution image is normally output and displayed.

[0096] From the above description, when a small number of sensors are damaged, the balance control is not affected, so as to accurately determine the replacement time of the electronic skin sensing unit 100. In some embodiments of the present application, as shown in FIG. 4, the balance control system 10 of the biped robot further includes a sensing unit replacement module 400. Figure 1

[0097] The sensing unit replacement module 400 is used to determine the number of damaged sensors in the electronic skin sensing unit 100 based on the plantar pressure data, and when the number is greater than a threshold number, a replacement instruction is generated to replace the electronic skin sensing unit 100.

[0098] In this way, the embodiment of the present application can ensure that the part of the sensor can still be used normally after failure caused by an uncontrollable factor, and the single sensor array can be replaced only after a large area is damaged, thereby prolonging the service life of the single sensor array.

[0099] It should be noted that when a certain sensor is damaged, the average values of the signals obtained by the eight sensors above, below, left, right, upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right of the sensor are used as the data of the sensor.

[0100] In summary, the balance control system of the biped robot provided by the embodiment of the present application pastes the electronic skin sensing unit 100 on the foot of the humanoid robot to detect the force of the robot foot to determine the gait of the robot in real time, and adjusts the balance of the biped robot based on the gait, thereby ensuring the balance maintaining ability of the biped robot. Moreover, the electronic skin sensing unit has low cost and a plug-in signal interface is designed, thereby reducing the configuration and deployment and maintenance and replacement costs, realizing the detachable accessories, and further improving the overall maintainability and environmental adaptability of the balance control system of the biped robot.

[0101] On the other hand, the embodiment of the present application also provides a biped robot, which includes the balance control system of the biped robot, and the balance control system of the biped robot is the balance control system of the biped robot in any one of the above embodiments.

[0102] ​The above describes in detail the balance control system of the biped robot provided by the application. The principle and implementation mode of the application are described by using specific examples. The above description of the examples is only used to help understand the method of the application and the core idea thereof. Meanwhile, for those skilled in the art, the specific implementation mode and application range can be changed according to the idea of the application. In conclusion, the content of the description should not be understood as a limitation of the application.

Claims

1. A balance control system for a bipedal robot, characterized in that, The biped robot comprises a left foot and a right foot, and the system comprises: a signal processing center and an electronic skin sensing unit attached to the sole of the left foot or the sole of the right foot; The electronic skin sensing unit is used to collect the sole pressure data of the biped robot; The signal processing center is used to determine the gait of the biped robot based on the sole pressure data, and to adjust the balance of the biped robot based on the gait; The gait comprises normal, forward tilt, backward tilt, left tilt and right tilt; The electronic skin sensing unit comprises a first left sensor and a first right sensor arranged in the instep region, and a second left sensor and a second right sensor arranged in the heel region, and the sole pressure data comprises 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 comprises a data processing module, a gait determination module and a balance adjustment module; The data processing module is used to determine the forefoot pressure based on the first left pressure data and the first right pressure data, to determine the hindfoot pressure based on the second left pressure data and the second right pressure data, to determine the left side pressure based on the first left pressure data and the second left pressure data, and to 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 the gait as normal when the forefoot pressure, the hindfoot pressure, the left side pressure and the right side pressure are equal, to determine the gait as forward tilt when the pressure difference between the forefoot pressure and the hindfoot pressure is greater than a pressure threshold value and the forefoot pressure is greater than the hindfoot pressure, to determine the gait as backward tilt when the pressure difference between the forefoot pressure and the hindfoot pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value and the forefoot pressure is less than the hindfoot pressure, to determine the gait as left tilt when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value and the left side pressure is greater than the right side pressure, and to determine the gait as right tilt when the pressure difference between the left side pressure and the right side pressure is greater than the pressure threshold value 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 adjust the balance of the biped robot based on the control instruction.

2. The balance control system of a biped robot according to claim 1, wherein The electronic skin sensing unit is a sensing array composed of a plurality of sensors, and the sole pressure data comprises a plurality of pressure sub-data corresponding to the plurality of sensors one by one; and the signal processing center comprises a data division module. The data division module is configured to divide the plurality of 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 set an average value of the left front pressure data set as the first left pressure data, an average value of the right front pressure data set as the first right pressure data set, an average value of the left rear pressure data set as the second left pressure data, and an average value of the right rear pressure data set as the second right pressure data.

3. The balance control system of a biped robot according to claim 1, wherein The electronic skin sensing unit includes a left electronic skin sub-unit attached to the left foot sole and a right electronic skin sub-unit attached to the right foot sole. The foot sole pressure data includes left foot sole pressure data corresponding to the left electronic skin sub-unit and right foot sole pressure data corresponding to the right electronic skin sub-unit. The data processing module is further configured to calculate a left data mean of the left foot sole pressure data and a right data mean of the right foot sole 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 determine that the gait is right-leaning when the left data mean is less than the right data mean.

4. The balance control system of a biped robot according to claim 3, wherein 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 further configured to determine a left foot gait based on the left foot left front pressure data, the left foot right front pressure data, the left foot left rear pressure data, and the left foot right rear pressure data, determine a right foot gait based on the right foot left front pressure data, the right foot right front pressure data, the right foot left rear pressure data, and the right foot right rear pressure data, and determine the gait of the biped robot as the left foot gait or the right foot gait when the left foot gait and the right foot gait are the same.

5. The balance control system of a biped robot according to claim 1, wherein The system further includes a sensing unit verification module. The sensing unit verification module is configured to obtain a ground parameter of a ground on which the biped robot is located, and determine a target sensing parameter of the electronic skin sensing unit based on the ground parameter and a preset corresponding relationship, and generate a sensing unit replacement instruction to instruct replacement of the electronic skin sensing unit when a sensing parameter of the electronic skin sensing unit does not match the target sensing parameter. The preset corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between a ground parameter and a sensing parameter of an electronic skin sensing unit.

6. The balance control system of a biped robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The electronic skin sensing unit includes a pluggable signal interface, and the signal processing center is connected with the electronic skin sensing unit through the pluggable signal interface.

7. The balance control system of a biped robot according to claim 2, wherein The electronic skin sensing unit includes a plurality of data processing units independently vertically integrated below the plurality of sensors one-to-one corresponding to the plurality of sensors. The data processing unit is configured to perform signal extraction, integration, sampling, and output processing on signals collected by the sensor to obtain the foot sole pressure data.

8. The balance control system of a biped robot according to claim 7, wherein The system further includes a sensing unit replacement module. The sensing unit replacement module is configured to determine a number of damaged sensors in the electronic skin sensing unit based on the plantar pressure data, and generate a replacement instruction indicating to replace the electronic skin sensing unit when the number is greater than a threshold number.

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