The NatDyReL (Utilizing Natural Dynamics for Reliable Legged Locomotion) project aims at a fundamental paradigm shift in the design and control of humanoid robots. This paves the way for a new generation of intrinsically compliant robots that are capable of adjusting their open loop actuator impedance in real-time to the task. Most importantly, the developed methods will allow for their use and adaptation in other morphologies, including multi-limbed walking or climbing robots.
Concept
In contrast to the now mature technology of torque-controlled drives, the robot developed in NatDyReL will be based on highly compliant actuators. This technology has the strong potential to enable physical robustness against external impacts and allows for periodic energy storage and release during highly dynamic motions. The robot will be able to adapt its dynamic behaviour at runtime to the current ground conditions and to the desired walking speed. In addition, part of the kinetic energy can be temporarily stored in the elastic drives at each step, thus enabling robust and energy-efficient execution of dynamic walking movements. In order to successfully implement these concepts in practice, it is necessary to take the actuator dynamics fully into account in the planning of the overall body movement as well as in the real-time control. Considerable effort thus will be spent on the fusion of whole-body locomotion algorithms with novel concepts for the control of elastic actuators. The project requires close interdisciplinary cooperation between experts from different disciplines, especially from robotics, control engineering and mechatronics.
Intermediate Results
The simulation of the NatDyReL robot running at a speed of 4 m/s. The running motions were generated based on a passivity-based whole-body controller which integrates the desired contact forces according to the Biologically inspired dead-beat (BID) running control framework.
In this simulation, the robot is running at 3 m/s. The gait is optimized for minimal motor power consumption
The resulting motor speeds and torques of the joints at the leg are optimized within the feasible area (light green colored zone).
Key Research Questions
With the research performed in the four work-packages we aim to answer the following fundamental scientific questions:
Project structure
WP1: Fundamentals for robot control with variable impedance actuators
WP2: Efficient Legged Locomotion
WP3: Multi-Contact Control
WP4: Prototype development
Partners
Funding
Consolidator Research Grant of the European Research Council (ERC).