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Development of flexible joints for a humanoid robot that walks on an oscillating plane

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Abstract

In this study, we develop flexible joints for a humanoid robot that walks on an oscillating plane and discuss their effectiveness in compensating disturbances. Conventional robots have a rigid frame and are composed of rigid joints driven by geared motors. Therefore, disturbances, which may be caused by external forces from other robots, obstacles, vibration and oscillation of the surface upon which the robot is walking, and so on, are transmitted directly to the robot body, causing the robot to fall. To address this problem, we focus on a flexible mechanism. We develop flexible joints and incorporate them in the waist of a humanoid robot; the experimental task of the robot is to walk on a horizontally oscillating plane until it reaches the desired position. The robot with the proposed flexible joints, reached the goal position despite the fact that the controller was the same as that used for a conventional robot walking on a static plane. From these results, we conclude that our proposed mechanism is effective for humanoid robots that walk on an oscillating plane.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a 2011 Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), 22700156, from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Hosei University, 3-7-2 Kajinocho, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8584, Japan

    Kazuyuki Ito

  2. THK CO., LTD., 3-11-6 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 141-8503, Japan

    Takehiro Yoneyama

Authors
  1. Kazuyuki Ito
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  2. Takehiro Yoneyama
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazuyuki Ito.

Additional information

This work was presented in part at the 17th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Beppu, Oita, January 19–21, 2012.

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Ito, K., Yoneyama, T. Development of flexible joints for a humanoid robot that walks on an oscillating plane. Artif Life Robotics 19, 305–309 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-014-0156-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-014-0156-y

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