Torso Rotation for Push Recovery Using Simple Change of Variables

This paper presents a modification for a broad class of controllers based on the LIPM dynamics. We use a change of variables such that instead of controlling the center of mass, we control an “augmented center of mass”, which is unaffected by upper body angular accelerations. Instead, we use upper body orientation as an additional source of control authority, allowing us to use both upper body rotation and center of pressure modulation for control. We demonstrate an improved robustness to external pushes with this additional control authority through simulated standing and walking experiments. We also demonstrate the modified controller on our force-controlled humanoid robot.