Parametrically Excited Dynamic Bipedal Walking: Experiments

Parametrically excited dynamic bipedal walking: Experimental case study

We have developed an experimental walking machine that has telescopic legs, free hip-joint, and semicircular feet. The robot achieves high-speed dynamic bipedal walking on level ground based on the principle of parametric excitation. We first realized stable dynamic walking by swing-leg actuation. This web page shows some photos and movies of our experimental study.

Our walking machine: Prototype parametrically excited dynamic bipedal walker

The prototype walking machine consists of four telescopic legs, free hip-joint, semicircular feet, and counterweights. The telescopic actuators (THK) are driven by maxon DC motors.

Photos

The experimental walking machine has been mainly developed by students with Aichi Institute of Technology (AIT). Our team leader is Mr. Takeshi Hayashi, AIT.

History

The walking machine has been improved many times. The horns attached to the hip, which act as a counterweight, are very important to propel the walker.

Movies

The followings are digest movies of our experiment.

Short version, MPEG, 4.96 MB (For IROS2008) [Download]
Full version, WMV, 44.7 MB [Download]

The followings are some records of our development.

Parametric excitation of one telescopic leg, MPEG, 5.17 MB [Download]
Parametric excitation of one telescopic leg, WMV, 16.3 MB [Download]
Plan of walker's main frame, WMV, 3.54 MB [Download]

Selected papers

T. Hayashi, F. Asano, Z.W. Luo, S. Hirano, and A. Kato, "Development of an energy-efficient biped robot by parametric excitation," Proc. of the 24th Annual Conference of the Robotics Society of Japan, 1F14, Sep. 2006. (In Japanese)
T. Hayashi, F. Asano, Z.W. Luo, S. Hirano, and A. Kato, "Experimental study of a level dynamic bipedal walking based on parametric excitation," Proc. of the 7th SICE System Integration Division Annual Conference, pp. 21-22, Dec. 2006. (In Japanese)
F. Asano, T. Hayashi, Z.W. Luo, S. Hirano, and A. Kato, "Parametric excitation approaches to efficient dynamic bipedal walking," Proc. of the IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 2210-2216, Oct. 2007.
T. Hayashi, F. Asano, Z.W. Luo, A. Nagano, K. Kaneko and A. Kato, "Experimental study of a parametrically excited dynamic bipedal walker with counterweights," Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 81-86, Oct. 2009.
T. Hayashi, F. Asano, K. Kaneko and Z.W. Luo, "Parametric excitation walking of a biped robot using counter weight," Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. C 76(768), pp. 2117-2126, Aug. 2010. (In Japanese)
T. Hayashi, K. Kaneko, F. Asano and Z.W. Luo, "Experimental study of dynamic bipedal walking based on the principle of parametric excitation with counterweights," Advanced Robotics, Vol. 25, Nos. 1-2, pp. 273-287, 2011.

Members

Takeshi Hayashi (AIT)
Fumihiko Asano (BMC RIKEN)
Shinya Hirano (BMC RIKEN)
Yuji Harata (Nagoya Univ.)
Kazuaki Kaneko (AIT)
Jun Naitou (AIT)
Toshinori Mitsudoh (AIT)
Zhi-Wei Luo (Kobe Univ., BMC RIKEN)
Atsuo Kato (AIT)

Acknowledgment

This research project was sponsored by Bio-Mimetic Control Research Center, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) . Many people have contributed to the development of our walking machine. We wish to deeply acknowledge Mr. Takeshi Hayashi, Aichi Inst. of Tech., for his cooperation and efforts. This research project was also partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, (B) No. 18360115, provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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