ZPM Compensation and Impedance Control for Improving Walking Stability of Biped Robots

Abstract

This paper proposes an adaptive trajectory generation strategy of using on-line ZMP information and an impedance control method for biped robots. Since robots experience various disturbances during their locomotion, their walking mechanism should have the robustness against those disturbances, which requires an on-line adaptation capability. In this context, an on-line trajectory planner is proposed to compensate the required moment for recovering stability. The ZMP equation and sensed ZMP information are used in this trajectory generation strategy. In order to control a biped robot to be able to walk stably, its controller should guarantee stable footing at the moment of feet contacts with the ground as well as maintaining good trajectory tracking performance. Otherwise, the stability of robot will be significantly compromised. To reduce the magnitude of an impact and guarantee a stable footing when a foot contacts with the ground, this paper. proposes to increase the damping of the leg drastically and to modify the reference trajectory of the leg. In the proposed control scheme, the constrained leg is controlled by impedance control using the impedance model with respect to the base link. Computer simulations performed with a 3-dof environment model that consists of combination of a nonlinear and linear compliant contact model show that the proposed controller performs well and that it has robustness against unknown uneven surface. Moreover, the biped robot with the proposed trajectory generator can walk even when it is pushed with a certain amount of external force.