Humanoid Robot Fall Controller with Impact-Absorbing Backpack
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Solution Overview
Problem
Humanoid robots face significant damage and safety risks during falls in interactive environments, with existing technologies lacking comprehensive fall management strategies to minimize damage to the robots and surrounding objects and people.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method controls a humanoid robot's motion during a fall by determining a desired rotational velocity to ensure impact on a predetermined target body segment, such as a backpack designed with impact-absorbing materials, using dynamic coupling between limb segments to re-orient the robot and distribute the impact effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the robot attempts to maintain balance and avoid falling, then safety and operational reliability improve, but in unavoidable fall scenarios, the robot suffers significant damage due to lack of fall management strategy
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of fall states and pre-calculates optimal impact targets before actual impact occurs. The controller identifies unavoidable fall conditions, determines safe impact zones, and prepares control signals in advance to guide the robot toward minimal-damage landing configurations
Solution Approach 2:
The system converts the harmful impact force into a controlled, beneficial outcome by directing the robot to impact predetermined safe zones on its body. The impact energy is channeled through designated areas that minimize damage to critical components, effectively transforming a catastrophic event into a manageable incident
2Reliability
If the robot uses complex fall detection and control algorithms, then fall management effectiveness improves, but computational time and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a hierarchical detection approach that first checks for obvious fall conditions using simplified criteria, then applies more complex analysis only when necessary. This partial application of computational resources reduces processing time while maintaining adequate detection accuracy for critical fall scenarios
Solution Approach 2:
The controller uses real-time sensor data to rapidly skip through computational stages, directly transitioning from fall detection to impact target selection without extensive intermediate calculations. The system rushes through the decision-making process using pre-established control policies that require minimal real-time computation
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the robot impacts the ground with a targeted body segment, then damage to critical components is minimized, but control precision and timing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The robot's body is segmented into designated impact zones with different damage characteristics. The controller selects specific segments (such as backpack, hips, or knees) as predetermined impact targets, each designed to absorb impact forces while protecting critical components. This segmentation allows the system to achieve damage reduction without requiring extremely precise control
4Strength
If the robot employs impact-absorbing materials and structured body segments, then damage resistance improves, but device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
Impact-absorbing materials and protective structures are applied locally only to predetermined impact zones rather than throughout the entire robot. Critical components are protected by concentrating damping materials at specific body segments that are designed to contact the ground, reducing overall material usage and structural complexity while maintaining impact resistance
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
The solution effectively minimizes damage to the robot and potential injuries by controlling the fall trajectory to land on a targeted body segment, utilizing impact-absorbing materials and strategic re-orientation to absorb the impact, thereby enhancing safety and reducing damage.
Implementation Method 1
A desired rotational velocity of the robot is determined that would cause the robot to impact the ground with a predetermined target body segment
Implementation Method 2
A desired rotational velocity of the robot is determined
Implementation Method 3
impact-absorbing materials and strategic re-orientation to absorb the impact
Data Source
AI summary
A humanoid robot fall controller controls motion of a robot to minimize damage when it determines that a fall is unavoidable. The robot controller detects a state of the robot during the fall and determines a desired rotational velocity that will allow the robot to re-orient itself during the fall to land on a predetermined target body segment (e.g., a backpack). The predetermined target body segment can be specially designed to absorb the impact of the fall and protect important components of the robot.