The main objective of this article is to optimize the walking pattern of a 2D humanoid robot with heel-off and toe-off motions in order to minimize the energy consumption and maximize the stability margin. To this end, at first, a gait planning method is introduced based on the ankle and hip joint position trajectories. Then, using these trajectories and the inverse kinematics, the position tra...

This paper describes the use of an actuated toes joint in a humanoid robot to achieve human-like bipedal walking. The robot does not shorten the stance leg, but uses the segment between the ankle joint and the toes joint to over-extend the unloading leg in the double-support phase. Experiments with the servo-based humanoid robot Toni show that this approach leads to low energy-consumption in th...

Humanoid walking is considered one of the hardest problems in Robotics. Current state-of-the-art humanoid robots are able to achieve high speeds on flat ground. However, they still exhibit agility, dexterity, robustness, flexibility and energy efficiency far below than a typical human does. In this work, we present an omnidirectional walking pattern generator for a humanoid robot. We follow an ...

This paper describes walking control algorithm for the stable walking of a biped humanoid robot on an uneven and inclined floor. Many walking control techniques have been developed based on the assumption that the walking surface is perfectly flat with no inclination. Accordingly, most biped humanoid robots have performed dynamic walking on well designed flat floors. In reality, however, a typi...

In this paper the methodology of programming a Darwin-Op® humanoid robot for the assistance of an artistic performance is shown. A performance is composed of elements that express emotions and feelings in people, fulfilling a series of movements defined by sequentially angles, lengths of the limbs and joints of the body. A biomechanical analysis was done for a dimensional relationship between h...

In this paper we present an inverse optimal control based transfer of motions from human experiments to humanoid robots and apply it to walking in constrained environments. To this end we introduce a 3D template model, which describes motion on the basis of center of mass trajectory, foot trajectories, upper body orientation and phase duration. Despite of its abstract architecture with prismati...

This article describes the hardware design of the iCub humanoid robot. The iCub is an open-source humanoid robotic platform designed explicitly to support research in embodied cognition. This paper covers the mechanical and electronic design of the first release of the robot. A series upgrades developed for the second version of the robot (iCub2), which are aimed at the improvement of the mecha...

Our research is concerned with making a dynamic, closed loop, stabilized kick for the Nao robot. The Nao is a humanoid robot made by Aldebaran Robotics. It is used in the Standard Platform League of the RoboCup, an organization which organizes football (soccer) competitions for autonomous robots. Kicking, of course, is an important part of football, and thus a good kick is vital to achieving go...

Recent advances in humanoid robotics, such as the introduction of Honda’s Asimo robot, have brought humanoids to the forefront of robotics research. We propose to mount the CanestaVision EP camera onto a humanoid robot. The 3D sensing capabilities of the camera will enable significant improvements in the core behaviors of obstacle detection (which is important for reliable walking) and grasp pl...

This paper describes our experience in the simulation of humanoid soccer robots using two general purposes 3D simulators, namely USARSim and Microsoft Robotics Studio. We address the problem of the simulation of a soccer match among two teams of small humanoid robots in the RoboCup Soccer Kid-Size Humanoid competitions. The paper reports the implementation of the virtual models of the Robovie-M...