Compliance Control for Biped Walking on Rough Terrain

In this paper, we propose a control system that changes the compliance based on the walking speed to stabilize biped walking on rough terrain. The proposed system does not use the inclination of the terrain. Instead, the system changes walking modes depends on its walking speed. In the downhill terrain, when the walking speed is increased, the stiffness of the ankle in the support phase is controlled so as to brake the increased speed. In the uphill terrain, when the walking speed is decreased, the stiffness of the waist joint is controlled and the desired trajectory for the supported leg is shifted so as not to falls down backward. To validate the efficiency of the proposed system, the stability of walking with the proposed system is examined in the two dimensional dynamics simulation. It is shown that the robot with the proposed system can walk in the more variable rough terrain and with the broader walking speed than without changing the stiffness of the joints.