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An Underactuated Biped Robot Guided via Elastic Elements: EKF-Based Estimation of Ankle Mechanical Parameters

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Intelligent Autonomous Systems 14 (IAS 2016)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 531))

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Abstract

When studying humanoid robots, many of the processes involving the synthesis of robots motion have much in common with problems found in biomechanics and human motor-control research. Based on the use of simulation tools, additive manufacturing and system identification techniques, this work presents the design and implementation of an underactuated biped robot guided via elastic elements. In particular, the focus was on the analysis of stable posture maintenance during standing obtained on a completely passive humanoid robotic system. An estimation of the mechanical parameters of the elastic mechanical network was performed using an Extended Kalman Filter. The results provided here are part of a larger project that aims to implement a hybrid robotic system where the balance of bipeds are obtained using passive elastic elements, thus simplifying the control of gait. This work contributes to the research and development of increasingly efficient human-like robots.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.cabrillo.edu/~dbrown/tracker/.

  2. 2.

    https://simtk.org/home/opensim.

  3. 3.

    https://www.design-simulation.com/SimWise4d/index.php.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ph.D. Fuben He and Prof. Yande Liang, which are with the School of Mechanical Engineering of the Dalian University of Technology, China. They contributed on the mechanical project and fabrication of the first prototype, as documented in references.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Intelligent Autonomous Systems Laboratory (IAS-Lab), Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Via G. Gradenigo, 6/b, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Roberto Bortoletto & Enrico Pagello

  2. Biomedical Program, Mechanical Engineering Department, Gannon University, 109 University Square, PMB #3251, Erie, PA, 16541, USA

    Thomas Reilly & Davide Piovesan

Authors
  1. Roberto Bortoletto
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  2. Thomas Reilly
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  3. Enrico Pagello
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  4. Davide Piovesan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto Bortoletto .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai, China

    Weidong Chen

  2. Osaka University , Osaka, Japan

    Koh Hosoda

  3. University of Padua , Padua, Italy

    Emanuele Menegatti

  4. Osaka University , Osaka, Japan

    Masahiro Shimizu

  5. Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai, China

    Hesheng Wang

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Bortoletto, R., Reilly, T., Pagello, E., Piovesan, D. (2017). An Underactuated Biped Robot Guided via Elastic Elements: EKF-Based Estimation of Ankle Mechanical Parameters. In: Chen, W., Hosoda, K., Menegatti, E., Shimizu, M., Wang, H. (eds) Intelligent Autonomous Systems 14. IAS 2016. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 531. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48036-7_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48036-7_24

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48036-7

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