Target Trajectory Design of Parametrically Excited Inverted Pendulum for Efficient Bipedal Walking

For stable bipedal gait generation on the level floor, efficient restoring of mechanical energy lost by heel collision at the ground is necessary. Parametric excitation principle is one of the solutions. We dealt with the robot’s total center of mass as an inverted pendulum to consider the total dynamics of the robot. Parametrically excited walking requires the use of continuous target trajectory that is close to discontinuous optimal trajectory. In this paper, we proposed the new target trajectory based on a position in the walking direction. We surveyed relations between walking performance and the parameters that form the target trajectory via numerical simulations. As a result, it was found that our target trajectory has the similar characteristics of a parametrically excited inverted pendulum. Keywords—Dynamic Bipedal Walking, Parametric Excitation, Target Trajectory Design.