慣性アシスト付き２足歩行ロボットの研究

抄録

We introduce a new method to make a leg swing smoother by using an inertial balancer. The balancer is located near the foot and moves vertically and horizontally as a mirror motion to the foot up/down and swing, so as to produce an acceleration force of foot motion. Thus, a required swing force from a support leg side via hip joint can be dramatically small, and the inertial influence of swing to the whole body balance can be suppressed. The effect of the method is confirmed by basic experiments using a biped robot with rotating balancer weight, parallel up/down foot, and passive hip joints. The robot can walk forward smoothly with no swing torque from the hip, and smaller sideways shift of the center of gravity.