Design of a Biped Robot

Andre Senior, and Sabri Tosunoglu

Florida International University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Miami, Florida 33174

mail@andresenior.info ABSTRACT
The design of a simple biped robot primarily involves the control of balance. Controlling the direction of balance for a two legged walking robot typically means mimicking the human form and its walking locomotion. Even though the human locomotion approach is taken as the ultimate reference, gaits can be developed using less sophisticated methods. The ultimate aim is to maintain an upright torso while advancing one leg in front of the other continuously. The mechanical structure then forces us to consider a combination of factors such as weight of each leg mechanism, and its appropriate dynamics such as velocity, acceleration, and degrees of freedom. Without developing other established principles, an adequate biped robot should have at least two degrees of freedom. Two degrees of freedom will allow the robot to swing or swivel one leg in front of the other for a step. With increasing degrees of freedom the robotic gait becomes smoother but extremely complex with respect to control. For a simple biped robot, the hardware needed is mechanical links, servos, servo controller, and a power source. The required components can be arranged in different configurations, but for the true autonomous biped robot a self contain package is ideal. This paper discusses basic considerations, develops the hardware, and a simple gait algorithm. is that reference trajectories can rarely be defined to work in the real world. Robots traversing over an irregular terrain encountering different obstacles will find it hard to autonomously adjust using classical control theory with reference trajectories. Hence, pass bipeds commonly walk better on flat and smooth surfaces without obstacles or surface irregularities. Many bipedal walking robots have been created in the last 20 years; noteworthy developments are Sonys Qrio and Hondas Asimo shown in Figure 1 [1, 2].

Keywords
Balance Control, Clyon Biped, Gait Concepts, Control Methods

1. INTRODUCTION
Designing a simple gait involves an active relationship between hardware and software. To illustrate, it can be easily appreciated that the more degrees of freedom a biped robot has, the more complicated the control program and electronic controller will have to be. In many applications, increase in the degree of freedom may outweigh the benefits, such as seen in biped robots with 10 degrees of freedom and more. With respect to software design, biped gaits describe the control of balance. Balance involves an autonomous biped robot maintaining a stable equilibrium while progressing along a surface. A way to achieve such a balance can be done by using the walking state methodology. The method uses static balance poses to define points of tending to balance during a gait. The point that a biped robot tends to balance is called a state. The walking states are chosen as the maximum and minimum tending to balance stance equilibrium positions where little or no torque needs to be applied to maintain the state. Other methods that can be used include simulations, zero point method, and trial, and error. Walking algorithms for biped robots are often derived from classical control theory, which uses a reference trajectory for the robot to follow. A disadvantage of using classical control theory -12006 Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics, FCRAR 2006 Miami, Florida, May 25-26, 2006 Figure 1. Sonys Qrio (L) and Hondas Asimo (R) Hondas Asimo robot (American Honda Motor Corporation, 2003), named after famed chemist and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov (19201992) [3] as first created in 1986 known as EO. EO had three successful versions. Versions E1, E3 and E6 were developed from 1987 to 1993. It took E0 in 1986 twenty to twenty five seconds to make a complete step motion. From 1993 to 1997 Honda developed portions of the robot Asimo. In 2003 Asimo was the last iteration in the P series prototype. Florida International University and others have developed their own biped walking robot projects. These robots are developed for the study of the human form to do with prosthetics and the development of humanoids in the future. Florida International Universitys robot, named Clyon [4] is a 9-inch-tall, six-degreeof-freedom biped robot. The Clyon robot has two legs, and each leg has three degrees of freedom; hip, knee and ankle motion per leg. Figure 2 shows the Clyon robot layout. The biped has six servos, one attached to each ankle, knee and hip on each leg. There are also sensors in the robots feet to determine ground contact. Overall the robot is designed with the intention of having light feet; gradually increasing weight towards the heaviest part at

the torso which houses the controller. The robot design approach was to embody the human form in a smaller scale [5].

additional programming languages other than Visual Basics and C++, giving the PIC added flexibility, and complexity. All PIC languages convert human-readable code to machine language code. Figure 3 shows a BASIC Stamp PIC [6].

Figure 3. BASIC stamp PIC PICs typically have limited memory capacities, but they can be networked to perform more complicated task. They can also be used in situations where additional computing power is done on a computer and transmitted to the PIC to perform tedious tasks. Attaching a PIC to a computer enables more autonomous characteristics to be used by a biped. For example using Microsoft Windows Compact Edition (WinCE) software control methods can be developed, tested and then hard-coded into a small embedded circuit with optimized performance and security benefits. Embedding a complete computer operating system can also mean additional resources such as enabling network applications of biped robots through remote control via technologies such as blue tooth, RF or WiFi. Wireless communication methods will allow the major computing effort to be done on a desktop, minimizing the weight of the biped robots components.

Figure 2. Clyon front view (L) and side view (R) The Clyon robot gait concepts work by continuously looping and autonomously adjusting gaits to effectively navigate over different planes in the real world. Figure 3 shows the basic control principle used by the Clyon biped robot.

Figure 3. Block diagram of dynamic robotic system The objective of the algorithm that the Clyon biped uses is to sense, plan and act in a continuous loop until there is a desired change in the environment or user input. Other complicated bipeds such as Asimo and Qrio essentially work on the same principle. This paper is broken into three sections, namely hardware, software and gait development. Each section will illustrate a necessary component to making a simple biped robot.

2.1.1.2 Electromechanical Actuators

Another required biped component is electrical actuators. Electrical actuators are electro-mechanical hardware such as solenoids and servo motors. Depending on the mode of powering and controlling, they can be controlled directly by a computer platform attached to a servo controller board or autonomously by a dedicated PIC. The main principle behind every electrical actuator is that motion is induced by the application of an electrically created magnetic field to a ferrous core. The strength and direction of the magnetic field determines the speed and direction of rotation or motion. For the scope of this paper we will limit the electronic controllers for the electrical actuators to those that use pulse width modulation. The pulse width modulation [7] technique enables a capable electrical motor to adjust speed and direction of rotation based on the width and speed of pulses received. For example, figure 4 shows a pulse width diagram for a RC servo.

2. HARDWARE
A biped robot has a combination of motors and sensors, systematically controlled by a computer type electrical circuitry called a microcontroller. Microcontrollers are typically programmable integrated circuit (PIC); however a biped robot can also be controlled by an attached computer system.

2.1.1.1 Types of Robotic Controllers

Microcontrollers as mentioned above are computer type circuitry normally placed on one integrated circuit board or chip, which has a central processing unit, memory, an optional math processing unit, and bus connections. They have the ability to execute commands and receive data to or from a bus of connected devices, such as sensors, motors and servos. One type of robotic controller, the BASIC stamp uses code based on the BASIC programming language whereas other microcontrollers such as OOP (Object-Oriented Programming) microcontrollers use an object-oriented approach for programming. The microcontroller is also capable of using -22006 Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics, FCRAR 2006

Figure 4. Servo using Pulse Width Modulation Miami, Florida, May 25-26, 2006

To program a biped effectively and economically a system serially connected communication board can be used. Companies that make serially communicable servo controllers include Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Mini board, Handy board; Mekatronics - MTJPro11 servo controller; Pololu servo controller; Lynxmotion- USB Servo controller; Pontech - SV200, SV203; Picobytes PicoPic; Scott Edwards - mini SSC; Ohmark; SD21. The controllers range in complexity, design and cost as can be seen in table 1. Table 1. Servo controller board table Servo Controller PicoPic Servio Parallax Scott Edwards mini SSC POLOLU Pontech SV203V Servo 8T Ohmark USB Servo2 SD21 Max # of Servos 20 20 16 RS232 Option YES YES NO Usable EEPROM YES YES NO

physical measurements have reached the desired threshold. Machine vision sensor systems can get complicated, because of the computational effort required. Various methods used to reduce computation load include optical flow, Kalman filter techniques, HMV technique and other computational methods.

Price $49.95 $99.95 $39.95 Figure 5. Vision system The HMV technique [8] uses a combined software effort to identify and track the orientation and position of an object.

3. SOFTWARE
8 16 8 8 8 8 20 YES YES YES YES YES NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO $44.00 $52.00 $85.00 $39.95 $35.75 $94.95 $50.00 The general concept of the software algorithm is to define the general three states that the robot has to accomplish in order to maintain balance and walk progressively. The three states are 1. 2. 3. Initialization Balance Control (Walking) Termination

2.1.1.3 Sensors
Another important component of a simple biped robotic system is sensors. The ability to continually determine a physical systems state allows for adjustment with regards to a walking gait objective. For example, to determine whether a robot has reached certain desired states, one will have to measure a physical state, such as the motors rotational speed and direction. With respect to robotic systems, the primary means of checking a systems state is through sensor feedback. Sensors correlate physical responses to system objectives such as physical motion. Formally, a sensor converts a physical measurement into an electrical signal. There are many types of sensors for robotic systems. The common types are range sensors, proximity sensors, touch sensors, force/torque sensors, potentiometers, encoders, and tachometers. Sensors can also include machine vision systems. The basic principle of using a machine vision system is illustrated in figure 5 which shows an example of a two degree of freedom robotic vision system controlling two electrical servos by using a simple vision system and a computer system. The computer system controls all the mechanical components through a serial communication control board. The video source feeds the computer video images for analysis in order to determine if -32006 Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics, FCRAR 2006

In the initialization state, the robot is in a balanced position or tending to balance. This initialization state approaches equilibrium in order to determine the correct direction and mode of walking. Advancing to new states or walking then involves balance control and direction such as with the shifting of the robots center of gravity in a toppling manner tending towards balance. The termination state involves the robot returning to a balance state as it comes out of the walking locomotion.

3.1.1.1 Autonomous Biped Gait

To illustrate the general autonomous biped gait algorithm, we will consider a marching gait. For a conceptual marching gait with two steps, left and right, we will assume that there are five states where the robot tends to either balance or tend to topple. Figure 6 illustrates the marching gait.

Figure 6. Hypothetical marching gait example

Miami, Florida, May 25-26, 2006

While advancing to new states during the actual walking locomotion, an autonomous robots software should ideally extrapolate the gait from balanced state to the next as figure 7 schematically illustrates.

concept is to maintain the center of gravity between an out of balance state and tending to balance state.

Figure 8. Clyon biped robot walking

3.1.1.2 Controller Control Method

There are a couple of ways to control and or connect the biped robot. The simplest method is with a serially connected computer interface. This method can be done through RF and Bluetooth. The basic serial communication principle is shown in figure 9.

Figure 7. General autonomous robot gait algorithm The center of gravity tends to shift as shown by the cube on top of the robot as seen in figure 6. In states 2 and 4 we can interpret the robot as tending to an out of balance point. If the leg that is bent continues in the same direction then the robot will topple. The control algorithm should not counter the tending to topple position by bending the other knee on the other leg or shifting the original leg back to the initial position. But to continue with the balance control state, expecting that to prevent a fall the robot has to counter balance by shifting the center of gravity to either the neutral position or to the next tending to out of balance point on the opposite side. It should be interpreted as a human sprinting. If we try to run with one leg we topple, however being conscious that one leg must go in front of the other enables us to run in any direction. In figure 8, an example of the general autonomous gait algorithm is illustrated using Florida International Universitys Clyon Robot. The initial position is with the robot standing horizontally with both feet flat on the surface, as seen in figure 8. The balance control is achieved by the robot twisting one ankle while immediately positioning the opposite foot in front of the initial position. The velocity and acceleration of the balance control state is determined by the weight and dynamics of the robot. For the Clyon robot used the entire gait can be done slowly. The main

Figure 9. Serial communication process flow The control software for the biped opens a serial port, sends or receives the appropriate ASCII information then either closes the open port or waits on the hardware to respond. This principle works with any serially connected control daughter board. The entire control of the biped is illustrated in figure 10. -4-

2006 Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics, FCRAR 2006

Miami, Florida, May 25-26, 2006

Start

Open Port

Port Opened

Clyon taking a single left step can be accomplished in a number of ways, restricting the biped to mimic the human form strictly will become harder with the limited degrees of freedom the robot has. The approach used to is to shift the center of gravity enough that the advancing leg is able to move off the ground, setting the balance control direction. The robot will tend to balance and topple in the direction where the center of gravity tends to. In figure 11, one and four represents the robot tending to balance. In figure 11, two and three represent the robot tending to topple in the forward direction, diagonally to the direction the center of gravity shifts to. From a software view, the system opens a port and sends information to the servo controller to activate the shift in the center of gravity to the right. Then the algorithm checks if the state has been achieved and starts to shift the center of gravity diagonally forward to create the direction of balance control. To stop the robot from toppling a counter shift in the center of gravity is required but to walk a tending out of balance in the forward direction must occur by using the opposing leg. In figure 11, the robot twists the right ankle to the right, accomplishes the required motion with the left leg, and then rotates the right ankle back to the neutral point. At the neutral point, both feet are touching the ground. To develop the Clyon left step gait systematically we will consider just the shift in the center of gravity, and the direction of control balance, . We will also take the left leg as L, and the right leg as R. The forward, F single left step can then be taken as:

Send ASCII Data Command (Receive or Send) Hardware Response

Close Port

Port Closed

End

= (-1, F, t, N)
Figure 10. Control system process flow

(1)

4. GAIT DEVELOPMENT
To illustrate a developed gait, we will consider a simple example using the Clyon robot to make one complete step as shown in figure 11.

The control balance tending first to the left, -1, with a forward shift occurs with a velocity, t then resets to the neutral position, N. For a series of slow steps then, the robot then can be assumed to do the following.

= (-1, F, t, N), (1, F, t, N), (-1, F, t, N)

(2)

The steps are taken serially with a velocity, t. For series of steps, statement 2 can also be written as:

Do Gait Steps = - , , - The algorithm is: i = 0.9 For i < 1 Step 1 - - Next i

(3)

Schematically, the algorithm is represented in figure 12. If we also include sensor feedback, such as the contact sensors in the robots feet, one can determine through software when the tending to balance state are achieved.
Figure 11. Clyon left step (Top row L to R stages 1 and 2; bottom L to R 3 and 4) -52006 Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics, FCRAR 2006 Miami, Florida, May 25-26, 2006

5.
The algorithm then becomes: For i < 1 for m If L = 1 and R = 0 then Else - End if If L = 0 and R = 1 then - Else End if If m = 4 goto Terminate Next i The sensor reading for the left and right feet are L and R respectively.

CONCLUSION

In this paper discussed were three main elements in the development of a simple biped walking robot, namely hardware, software and gait development. The hardware for a simple robot includes electromechanical components such as RC servos and controllers. Typically, RC servo controllers use a pulse width modulation technique to control the absolute position of a servo based on frequency. The torque to weight ratio for larger biped robots play an important part because of the dynamics of two legged walking. Gait development represents a combination of hardware motion and software control with respect to the type of gait being used and the physical biped system attributes. Smaller bipeds have lower center of gravity and have proven easier to control, however they lack full autonomous features due to power constraints and the packaging of components. In the future the hardware-software balance will allow bipeds such as the Clyon biped robot to make strides as shown in Figure 12, essentially allowing Clyon to momentarily have both feet off the ground.

Figure 14. Clyon stride

6. REFERENCES
[1] American Honda Motor Corporation. Corporate Affairs and Communications, Technical Information: ASIMO, Retrieved from: http://www.honda.com. 2003. [2] Sony Corporation, AIBO Entertainment Robot ERS7M2/W, Retrieved from http://www.sonystyle.com. 2005. [3] Asimov, J., and Asimov, I. Its been a Good Life, Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY. 2002. [4] Senior, A., and Tosunoglu, S. Robust Bipedal Walking: The Clyon Project, The 18th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics, Gainesville, FL. 2005. [5] Paluska, D. Design of a Humanoid Biped for Walking Research. Master's Thesis, Mechanical Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. 2000. [6] BASIC Stamp 2E Interpreter Chip (DIP), Retrieved: Parallax Corporation, Rocklin, CA, Retrieved from http://www.parallax.com. 2005. [7] SV203 RC Servo Motor Controller, Users Manual V1.20, pp. 2, Pontech Corporation, Cucamonga, CA. [8] Senior, A., and Tosunoglu, S. Hybrid Machine Vision Control, The 18th Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics, Gainesville, FL. 2005. Figure 13. Shift in the center of gravity -62006 Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics, FCRAR 2006 Miami, Florida, May 25-26, 2006

Figure 12. Shift in the center of gravity calculation An example of applying the shift in the center of gravity is demonstrated with the Clyon robot in a sumo type gait as shown in figure 13. Clyon shifts the center of gravity rapidly to the left to tend to balance on the opposite right ankle.