Active/passive hybrid walking by the biped robot TOKAI ROBO-HABILIS 1

Abstract

This paper introduces a biped robot named TOKAI ROBO-HABILIS 1. It has some particular mechanisms in the joints, by which it moves with the combination of active driving by the DC motors and passive rotation of the joints, called active/passive hybrid walking. It is essentially the identical way of walking to those of human. As a result, it walks with a subsequently small energy consumption compared to any conventional biped walking robots that walk with driving all of joints actively by actuators. This paper describes at first the mechanisms of TOKAI ROBO-HABILIS 1. Its computer simulation shows the control strategy and the energy consumption for various walking patterns. It follows to show the walking experiments.