Integral control of humanoid balance

Abstract

This paper presents a balance controller that allows a humanoid to recover from large disturbances and still maintain an upright posture. Balance is achieved by integral control, which decouples the dynamics and produces smooth torque signals. Simulation shows the controller performs better than other simple balance controllers. Because the controller is inspired by human balance strategies, we compare human motion capture and force plate data to simulation. A model tracking controller is also presented, making it possible to control complex robots using this simple control.