WALKING CONTROL APPARATUS OF ROBOT AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20110172825A1
• Filed: 01/05/2011
• Published: 07/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Joong Kyung, Kwon, Woong, Roh, Kyung Shik, Lee, Min Hyung
• Granted Patent: US 8,868,239 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/261
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/161 Hardware, e.g. neural networks, fuzzy logic, interfaces, processor

Abstract

A walking control apparatus of a robot includes joint portions provided in each of a plurality of legs of the robot, a state database to store state data of each of the legs and state data of the joint portions corresponding to the state of each of the legs, when the robot walks, a position instruction unit to store desired positions corresponding to the state data of the joint portions, an inclination sensing unit to sense an inclination of an upper body of the robot, a torque calculator to calculate torques using the inclination of the upper body and the desired positions, and a servo controller to output the torques to the joint portions to control the walking of the robot. Since the robot walks by Finite State Machine (FSM) control and torque servo control, the rotation angles of the joint portions do not need to be accurately controlled. Thus, the robot walks with low servo gain and energy consumption is decreased. Since the robot walks with low servo gain, each of the joints has low rigidity and thus shock generated by collision with surroundings is decreased.

Claims

1. A walking control apparatus of a robot comprising:

joint portions provided in each of a plurality of legs of the robot;

a state database to store state data of each of the legs and state data of the joint portions corresponding to the state of each of the legs, when the robot walks;

a position instruction unit to store desired positions corresponding to the state data of the joint portions;

an inclination sensing unit to sense an inclination of an upper body of the robot;

a torque calculator to calculate torques using the inclination of the upper body and the desired positions; and

a servo controller to output the torques to the joint portions to control the walking of the robot.

2. The walking control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a compensator to calculate compensation angles of a current state using the inclination of the upper body,

wherein the position instruction unit compares positions of a current state with desired positions of a next state to generate position instructions of the joint portions, compensates for the position instructions of the joint portions using the compensation angles of the current state, and regenerates and outputs the position instructions to the torque calculator.

3. The walking control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a compensator to calculate compensation angles using the inclination of the upper body, wherein the torque calculator calculates the torques using the desired positions and the compensation angles if the position instruction unit transmits desired position instruction signals of a next state.

4. The walking control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein:

the inclination sensing unit senses a pitch angle and a roll angle of the upper body, and

the compensator calculates a pitch compensation angle using the pitch angle of the upper body and calculates a roll compensation angle using the roll angle of the upper body.

5. The walking control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the joint portions include a hip joint portion to move a thighbone portion of the robot and an ankle joint portion to move a foot.

6. The walking control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the torque calculator analyzes the pitch angle and the roll angle of the upper body and determines a direction of the pitch angle and a direction of the roll angle.

7. The walking control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the torque calculator compares the pitch angle of the upper body with a first reference pitch angle and a second reference pitch angle to calculate the pitch torque of any one of the ankle joint portion or the hip joint portion, if the pitch angle of the upper body is a pitch angle of a forward direction.

8. The walking control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the torque calculator compares the pitch angle of the upper body with a third reference pitch angle and a fourth reference pitch angle to calculate the pitch torque of any one of the ankle joint portion or the hip joint portion, if the pitch angle of the upper body is a pitch angle of a backward direction.

9. The walking control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the torque calculator compares the roll angle of the upper body with a first reference roll angle and a second reference roll angle to calculate the roll torque of any one of the ankle joint portion or the hip joint portion, if the roll angle of the upper body is a roll angle of a right direction.

10. The walking control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the torque calculator compares the roll angle of the upper body with a third reference roll angle and a fourth reference roll angle to calculate the roll torque of any one of the ankle joint portion or the hip joint portion, if the roll angle of the upper body is a roll angle of a left direction.

11. A walking control method of a robot comprising:

outputting instructions of desired positions corresponding to state data of joint portions provided in the robot;

sensing an inclination of an upper body of the robot;

calculating torques using the desired positions and the inclination of the upper body; and

outputting the calculated torques to the joint portions to control the walking of the robot.

12. The walking control method according to claim 11, wherein the calculating of the torques includes:

selecting the desired positions in a position trajectory;

calculating compensation angles corresponding to the inclination of the upper body; and

compensating for the desired positions using the compensation angles to calculate the torques.

13. The walking control method according to claim 12, wherein the sensing of the inclination of the upper body of the robot includes sensing a pitch angle and a roll angle of the upper body.

14. The walking control method according to claim 13, wherein the calculating of the compensation angles includes calculating a pitch compensation angle and a roll compensation angle.

15. The walking control method according to claim 14, wherein the outputting of the calculated torques to the joint portions includes outputting the torques to at least one of a hip joint portion to move a thighbone portion of the robot and an ankle joint portion to move a foot of the robot.

16. The walking control method according to claim 15, further comprising determining a direction of the pitch angle of the upper body and a direction of the roll angle of the upper body.

17. The walking control method according to claim 16, wherein the calculating of the torques includes:

comparing the pitch angle of the upper body with a first reference pitch angle and a second reference pitch angle if the pitch angle of the upper body is a pitch angle of a forward direction;

calculating pitch torque of the ankle joint portion using the pitch compensation angle if the pitch angle of the upper body exceeds the first reference pitch angle and is equal to or less than the second reference pitch angle; and

calculating the pitch torque of the hip joint portion using the pitch compensation angle if the pitch angle of the upper body exceeds the second reference pitch angle.

18. The walking control method according to claim 16, wherein the calculating of the torques includes:

comparing the pitch angle of the upper body with a third reference pitch angle and a fourth reference pitch angle if the pitch angle of the upper body is a pitch angle of a backward direction;

calculating pitch torque of the ankle joint portion using the pitch compensation angle if the pitch angle of the upper body exceeds the third reference pitch angle and is equal to or less than the fourth reference pitch angle; and

calculating the pitch torque of the hip joint portion using the pitch compensation angle if the pitch angle of the upper body exceeds the fourth reference pitch angle.

19. The walking control method according to claim 16, wherein the calculating of the torques includes:

comparing the roll angle of the upper body with a first reference roll angle and a second reference roll angle if the roll angle of the upper body is a roll angle of a right direction;

calculating roll torque of the ankle joint portion using the roll compensation angle if the roll angle of the upper body exceeds the first reference roll angle and is equal to or less than the second reference roll angle; and

calculating the roll torque of the hip joint portion using the roll compensation angle if the roll angle of the upper body exceeds the second reference roll angle.

20. The walking control method according to claim 16, wherein the calculating of the torques includes:

comparing the roll angle of the upper body with a third reference roll angle and a fourth reference roll angle if the roll angle of the upper body is a roll angle of a left direction;

calculating roll torque of the ankle joint portion using the roll compensation angle if the roll angle of the upper body exceeds the third reference roll angle and is equal to or less than the fourth reference roll angle; and

calculating the roll torque of the hip joint portion using the roll compensation angle if the roll angle of the upper body exceeds the fourth reference roll angle.

21. The walking control method according to claim 11, wherein the outputting of the instructions of the desired positions includes comparing desired positions of a next state and positions of a current state of the joint portions to generate position instruction signals and outputting the generated position instruction signals.

22. The walking control method according to claim 21, wherein the calculating of the torques includes:

compensating for the generated position instruction signals using the inclination of the upper body; and

calculating the torques to follow the compensated position instruction signals.