Development of a three-dimensional dynamic biped walking via the oscillation of telescopic knee joint and its gait analysis

The purpose of this study is to extend the three-dimensional (3-D) passive dynamic biped walker to a 3-D dynamic biped walker, i.e., a walker that can walk on a horizontal surface based on a passive dynamic walking. A new prototype of 3-D biped walker called RW04, which has telescopic knee joints, was developed and its ability for walking was validated through some experiments. A sinusoidal oscillation, which is regarded as a central pattern generator with no sensory feedback, was provided to the knee joints to achieve the biped walking. The results showed that the biped gait of RW04 was possible only via a sinusoidal oscillation of the knee joint. Moreover, the 3-D dynamic walking gait via frequency response and zero moment point (ZMP) trajectory was also analyzed. The biped locomotion had a resonance, i.e., the frequency matched the natural frequency of the locomotion in the gain property. An “8” shaped ZMP trajectory was observed, which was found to be similar to that of the human gait. However, the simple sinusoidal oscillation had limitations such as stride reduction or discontinuation by phase difference. Therefore, in future work, more adaptable control strategy such as a sensory feedback using ZMP should be provided.