A class of biped locomotion called Passive Dynamic Walking (PDW) has been recognized to be efficient in energy consumption and a key to understand human walking. Although PDW is sensitive to the initial condition and disturbances, studies of Quasi-PDW which incorporates supplemental actuators have been reported to overcome this sensitivity. In this article, we propose a reinforcement learning m...

Energy-efficient control of bipedal walking robots requires both minimization of mechanical energy losses (often mainly due to impacts) and the use of natural oscillations in a mechanism to minimize actuator torques (as shown by research on passive dynamic walking). In this paper, we discuss how these aspects can be analyzed and optimized using mathematical models of the dynamics, as opposed to...

For research into bipedal walking machines, autonomous operation is an important issue. The key engineering problem is to keep the weight of the actuation system small enough. For our 2D prototype MIKE, we solve this problem by applying pneumatic McKibben actuators on a passive dynamic biped design. In this paper we present the design and construction of MIKE and elaborate on the most crucial s...

The passive dynamic walker (PDW) has an interesting characteristic that it realizes cyclic locomotion without planning joint trajectories. On the other hand, the walking behavior cannot be controlled because it is dominated by the fixed body dynamics. Observing the human cyclic locomotion that is activated by elastic muscles, we adopt a compliant hip joint on PDW, and we propose the ”phasic dyn...

In human walking, it is often assumed that the arms have a passive movement which reduces the energy consumption of walking. The issue addressed in this work is the influence of the arms on the walking of a humanoid robot. The study has two objectives: to verify the effect of arms on a sthenic criterion during walking, and to determine whether the optimal movement of the arms is passive or not....

This chapter presents further investigations into the period-three route to chaos exhibited in the passive dynamic walking of the compass-gait biped robot as it goes down an inclined surface. This discovered kind of route in the passive bipedal locomotion was found to coexist with the conventional period-one passive hybrid limit cycle. The further analysis on the period-three route chaos is rea...

A quasi-passive leg exoskeleton is presented for load-carrying augmentation during walking. The exoskeleton has no actuators, only ankle and hip springs and a knee variabledamper. Without a payload, the exoskeleton weighs 11.7 kg and requires only 2 Watts of electrical power during loaded walking. For a 36 kg payload, we demonstrate that the quasi-passive exoskeleton transfers on average 80% of...

A low-cost bipedal walking robot kit with limited actuation and sensing capabilities was designed and built to achieve actively powered, passive dynamic walking locomotion over level ground. The walking system is composed of readily available parts and materials totaling less than $50 and can be assembled either from plans or pre-fabricated parts in less than a day. Indeed, the very first (and ...