Development of a biped robot with torque controlled joints

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the development of a novel biped walking machine. The robot is designed as an experimental system for studying biped locomotion based on torque controlled joints. As an underlying drive technology, the torque controlled joint units of the DLR-KUKA-Lightweight-Robot are employed. The relevant design choices for using this technology in a biped robot with integrated joint torque sensors are highlighted and some first experimental results using a conventional ZMP based control scheme are discussed.