Legged Robot Gait Control via Force Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legged mobile robots tend to lose stability when interacting with humans, as external forces from handshaking or walking with a human can cause instability, unlike wheeled robots which remain stable unless significant force is applied.
Innovation Solution
A legged mobile robot control system equipped with force sensors to detect external forces and an operation controller that generates gaits to stabilize the robot's posture and control leg actuators based on these forces, ensuring stability during human interaction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the legged mobile robot uses legs for mobility, then it can interact with humans through handshaking or walking with hand in hand, but it loses stability when external forces act on it during these interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The force sensor detects external forces acting on the robot's hand or body during human interaction, and this detection information is fed back to the operation controller. The controller generates appropriate gait patterns based on the detected force magnitude and direction, allowing the robot to adjust its posture and leg movements in real-time to counteract external forces and maintain stability during handshaking or walking with hand in hand.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot transitions from static or predetermined gait patterns to dynamic, adaptive gait generation. The operation controller continuously generates new gait patterns based on real-time force sensor input, allowing the legged mobile robot to dynamically adjust its posture and movement in response to varying external forces during human interaction, thereby maintaining stability in a changing environment.
2Reliability
If the robot detects external forces through force sensors, then it can generate appropriate gaits to maintain stability, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The force sensor acts as an intermediary device that bridges the external environment (human contact forces) and the robot's control system. By placing force sensors at strategic locations (hand and body), the system translates complex external forces into quantifiable data that the operation controller can process to generate appropriate gait adjustments, simplifying the overall control architecture while improving reliability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the legged mobile robot to maintain stability during contact with humans, allowing for effective communication and interaction while walking with or being held by a human, by adjusting gaits and posture in response to detected forces.
Implementation Method 1
a force sensor which detects an external force acting from a human being when coming in contact with the human being through the hand
Data Source
AI summary
In a control system of a legged mobile robot having a body and legs connected to the body and driven by a leg actuator, there is provided an operation controller which generates gaits based on an external force, more specifically gaits for walking by taking a hand of a human being or with the hand being taken by the hand of the human being and controls operation of at least the leg actuator based on the generated gaits. With this, it becomes possible to control the robot to come contact with a human being to establish communication therewith, while enabling to keep a stable posture during the contact.