Control of a compass gait walker based on energy regulation using ankle push-off and foot placement

In this paper, we present a theoretical study on the control of a compass gait walker using energy regulation between steps. We use a return map to relate the mid-stance robot kinetic energy between steps with the two control inputs, namely, foot placement and ankle push-o↵. We show that by regulating the robot kinetic energy between steps using the two control inputs, we are able to: 1) generate a wide range of walking speeds and stride lengths, including average human walking; 2) cancel the e↵ect of external disturbance fully in a single step (dead-beat control); and, 3) switch from one periodic gait to another in a single step. We hope that insights from this control methodology can help develop robust controllers for practical bipedal robots.