An approach to analyzing biped locomotion dynamics and designing robot locomotion controls

Abstract

An approach to analyzing biped locomotion problems is presented. This approach applies the principles of Lagrangian dynamics to derive the equations of motion of locomotion gaits, state-variable techniques to analyze locomotion dynamics, and multivariable feedback to design locomotion controls. A robot model which has no knee joints or feet and is constrained to motion in the sagittal plane is chosen as a sufficiently simple model of a biped to illustrate the approach. A goal of the analysis is the design of a locomotion control for the robot which produces a walking gait having a velocity and stride length similar to those of a human walking gait. The principle feature of the approach is a much deeper understanding of the dynamics of biped locomotion than previous approaches have provided.