Development of a humanoid walker : simulation, control and design

Details

Supervisors

Ronsse, Renaud

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil électromécanicien

Abstract

Nowadays, plenty of bipedal robots have already been developed but are still being improved. The purpose of their development is highly diversified. The aim of this master thesis is to develop a new humanoid walker composed of five bodies (two calves, two thighs and one trunk but no feet) and four compliant joints (two hips and two knees) and that is restricted to move in its sagittal plane only. Its joints are all actuated with one single power motor through the use of differentials and Infinitely Variable Transmissions (IVTs). In order to validate this principle of multiple actuation, this robot is simulated, controlled (based on a neuromuscular model) and designed. The results obtained with the simulation are compared with human walking data and with data from another bipedal robot. The conclusions of this comparison are that the results are consistent and that the lack of ankle reflects in the hip results. Concerning the dimensioning, it focuses on the powertrain, defined as the transmission chain from the power motor to the transmission to the joints. Its main parts are dimensioned on the basis of the simulation results. Several improvements can however be suggested. First, the dimensioning of the powertrain could be more deeply realised and could be taken into account in the simulation to obtain more realistic results, as it only considers the ideal case for now. Then, the parameters of the simulation and more precisely of the ground contact model could be tuned, as well as the time step. About the dimensioning, more optimal results could be obtained by modifying the established geometrical hypotheses and having a larger robot would allow more freedom since the available space is critical. Finally all the other elements that were neglected in the computations such as the belts, the legs, the boom, etc. could be dimensioned to complete the mechanical dimensioning of the whole humanoid walker