The Merits of Passive Compliant Joints in Legged Locomotion: Fast Learning, Superior Energy Efficiency and Versatile Sensing in a Quadruped Robot

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68407700%3A21230%2F17%3A00304949" target="_blank" >RIV/68407700:21230/17:00304949 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1672652916603748" target="_blank" >http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1672652916603748</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1672-6529(16)60374-8" target="_blank" >10.1016/S1672-6529(16)60374-8</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The Merits of Passive Compliant Joints in Legged Locomotion: Fast Learning, Superior Energy Efficiency and Versatile Sensing in a Quadruped Robot

Original language description

A quadruped robot with four actuated hip joints and four passive highly compliant knee joints is used to demonstrate the potential of underactuation from two standpoints: learning locomotion and perception. First, we show that: (i) forward locomotion on flat ground can be learned rapidly (minutes of optimization time); (ii) a simulation study reveals that a passive knee configuration leads to faster, more stable, and more efficient locomotion than a variant of the robot with active knees; (iii) the robot is capable of learning turning gaits as well. The merits of underactuation (reduced controller complexity, weight, and energy consumption) are thus preserved without compromising the versatility of behavior. Direct optimization on the reduced space of active joints leads to effective learning of model-free controllers. Second, we find passive compliant joints with potentiometers to effectively complement inertial sensors in a velocity estimation task and to outperform inertial and pressure sensors in a terrain detection task. Encoders on passive compliant joints thus constitute a cheap and compact but powerful sensing device that gauges joint position and force/torque, and — if mounted more distally than the last actuated joints in a legged robot — it delivers valuable information about the interaction of the robot with the ground.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

20204 - Robotics and automatic control

Project

—

Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2017

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Bionic Engineering

ISSN

1672-6529

e-ISSN

1672-6529

Volume of the periodical

14

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

CN - CHINA

Number of pages

14

Pages from-to

1-14

UT code for WoS article

000392361500001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85007313072