Dynamic Walking Analysis of an Underactuated Biped Robot with Asymmetric Structure

Abstract

Owing to their nonlinear structures and dynamics, bipedal walking robots are commonly used as appropriate case studies for nonlinear modeling and control. In this study, the dynamics of a point-feet 4-link biped robot having asymmetric structure is studied. This asymmetry appears on the robot’s legs such that one leg of the robot does have an active knee while the other is knee-less. In this way, the style and analysis of each step depends on which leg is the stance leg. Although the stable steady state behavior of the system is purely periodic, the gait cycle does consist of two sequential steps. Since each step includes a continuous phase followed by an impact phase, hence, we need to model the system as a multiphase (4-phase) hybrid system. The main purpose of this research is to find stable gating pattern and employ appropriate controller to make sure that the gating is accomplished in an asymptotically stable manner. A combination of feedback linearization and finite-time controllers is used to control the walking posture, and the stability of the whole behavior is investigated by analysis of a one-dimensional Poincaré map. Simulation results successfully support the modeling and control approach.