Gait transitions for walking and running of biped robots

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a gait transition algorithm between walking and running for fast movement of a biped robot. Firstly, considering that walking and running differ in the oscillations of the body and legs that occur during each step or stride, the transitionary trajectory is constructed by the transformations of the velocities of hip link, the step height and stride of the feet, and the duration of the step using interpolating polynomials. And in order to increase the compliance about the environment and to absorb the impact force in the landing event, the impedance controller is designed for walking and running biped robot. The effectiveness and the performance of the proposed gait patterns are shown in computer simulations with a 19-DOF biped robot and a 6-DOF elastic pad model.