Experimental realization of dynamic walking of the biped humanoid robot KHR-2 using zero moment point feedback and inertial measurement

This paper describes a novel control algorithm for dynamic walking of biped humanoid robots. For the test platform, we developed KHR-2 (KAIST Humanoid Robot-2) according to our design philosophy. KHR-2 has many sensory devices analogous to human sensory organs which are particularly useful for biped walking control. First, for the biped walking motion, the motion control architecture is built and then an appropriate standard walking pattern is designed for the humanoid robots by observing the human walking process. Second, we define walking stages by dividing the walking cycle according to the characteristics of motions. Third, as a walking control strategy, three kinds of control schemes are established. The first scheme is a walking pattern control that modifies the walking pattern periodically based on the sensory information during each walking cycle. The second scheme is a real-time balance control using the sensory feedback. The third scheme is a predicted motion control based on a fast decision from the previous experimental data. In each control scheme, we design online controllers that are capable of maintaining the walking stability with the control objective by using force/torque sensors and an inertial sensor. Finally, we plan the application schedule of online controllers during a walking cycle according to the walking stages, accomplish the walking control algorithm and prove its effectiveness through experiments with KHR-2.