Elastische, bionisch inspirierte, zweibeinige Roboter
Final Report Abstract
The project has achieved a number of fundamental results towards the ultimate goal of a humanlike biomechanically inspired bipedal robot (BioBiped) with three-segmented legs consisting of foot, shank and thigh. The BioBiped robot is actuated by mono- and biarticular tendon-driven series elastic actuators. This novel actuation concept for robots is oriented towards the morphology and functionality of the human musculoskeletal apparatus in order to achieve human-like jogging and walking. Based on a series of tailored human motion experiments, new and refined insights into main leg functions and their relation to the role of single and two-joint muscles have been obtained and transferred into several extended and new biomechanical models. New locomotor sub-function related gait concepts, e.g., for stance control, swing leg placement policies, postural balance control, as well as extensions to the virtual pivot point and spring-loaded inverted pendulum models have been developed from human experiments and serve to advance gait models. Several of these findings could be implemented and validated on a BioBiped robot model in simulation and experiment. A novel modeling and simulation methodology for the multi-body systems (MBS) motion dynamics of musculoskeletal robots with tendon driven series elastic mono- and bi-articular joint actuation has been developed which accounts for the very high model complexity. It has been experimentally validated and been applied successfully for the investigation of several robot design questions and for development and testing of several control strategies. A hardware and software system architecture has been developed for the BioBiped robot series which meets the requirements of supporting very different types of control and monitoring approaches. For the design of tendon-driven series elastically actuated musculoskeletal robots two approaches have been developed. One consists of virtual motion experiments based on detailed MBS dynamics simulations; the other is based on a formalization of the design principles for embodied agents as constrained multi-objective optimization problems. Three successive robot models BioBiped1, 2 and 3 have been developed, where each version includes improvements based on experimental evaluation of the previous version as well as new functionalities as needed for the scientific investigations (like having not only passive but also active biarticular muscles or the placement of the robot’s center of mass above the hip joint). Several low and high level control concepts have been investigated for the three BioBiped robots. These include the utilization of the natural system dynamics by a pattern generator, a centralized MBS model-based motion generation as well as bio-inspired control approaches, which combine feedforward and feedback control elements. Key aspects of locomotion performance in compliant and musculoskeletal robots have been discussed including criteria like energy storage and shock tolerance and also considering the interplay between different mono- and biarticular technical musculoskeletal actuation units. As an interesting aspect of the latter the Lombard paradox from biomechanics could be validated based on detailed motion dynamics simulation model of a musculoskeletal BioBiped robot. In total, a large number of fundamental insights, models and methods have been developed and the BioBiped robots have demonstrated very promising hopping and walking results in experiment in the sagittal plane. Nevertheless, a number of open research and development issues still need to be solved towards the ultimate goal of the project. These include among others gait specific control of compliance and stiffness in the redundantly actuated joints, a flexible control of stepping patterns for different gaits, and free locomotion without (sagittal) postural stabilization aid.
Publications
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(2009). Towards bipedal jogging as a natural result for optimizing walking speed for passively compliant three-segmented legs. International Journal of Robotics Research 28(2) 257-265
A. Seyfarth, R. Tausch, M. Stelzer, F. Iida, A. Karguth, O. von Stryk
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(2009). Towards bipedal jogging as a natural result for optimizing walking speed for passively compliant three-segmented legs. International Journal of Robotics Research 28(2) 257-265
A. Seyfarth, R. Tausch, M. Stelzer, F. Iida, A. Karguth, O. von Stryk
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(2011) Simulation of dynamics and realistic contact forces for manipulators and legged robots with high joint elasticity. In: International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR), June 20-23, pp. 34–41
T. Lens, K. Radkhah, O. von Stryk
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(2011). Combining forces and kinematics for calculating consistent centre of mass trajectories. Journal of Experimental Biology, 214(21), 3511-3517
Maus, H. M., Seyfarth, A., & Grimmer, S.
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(2011). Concept and design of the BioBiped1 robot for human-like walking and running. International Journal of Humanoid Robotics 8(3) 439-458
K. Radkhah, C. Maufroy, M. Maus, D. Scholz, A. Seyfarth, O. von Stryk
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Actuation requirements for hopping and running of the musculoskeletal robot BioBiped1. In: 2011 IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 4811-4818
K. Radkhah, O. von Stryk
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(2012) Detailed dynamics modeling of BioBiped’s monoarticular and biarticular tendon-driven actuation system. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, October 7-12, pp. 4243 – 4250
K. Radkhah, T. Lens, O. von Stryk
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(2012). Can robots help to understand human locomotion? at-Automatisierungstechnik Methoden und Anwendungen der Steuerungs-, Regelungs-und Informationstechnik, 60(11), 653-661
Seyfarth, A., Grimmer, S., Häufle, D. F., & Kalveram, K. T.
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(2012). Leg-adjustment strategies for stable running in three dimensions. Bioinspiration & biomimetics, 7(3), 036002
Peuker, F., Maufroy, C., & Seyfarth, A.
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(2012). Multiple-step model-experiment matching allows precise definition of dynamical leg parameters in human running. Journal of Biomechanics, 45(14), 2472-2475
Ludwig, C., Grimmer, S., Seyfarth, A., & Maus, H. M.
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(2013). Robust hopping based on virtual pendulum posture control. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 8(3), 036002
Sharbafi, M. A., Maufroy, C., Ahmadabadi, M. N., Yazdanpanah, M. J., & Seyfarth, A.
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(2014, September). Hopping control for the musculoskeletal bipedal robot: BioBiped. In Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2014), 2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on (pp. 4868-4875)
Sharbafi, M. A., Radkhah, K., von Stryk, O., & Seyfarth, A.
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(2015) Concepts of Softness for Legged Locomotion and their Assessment. In: Soft Robotics - Transferring Theory to Application, pp. 120-133, Springer Verlag
A. Seyfarth, K. Radkhah, O. von Stryk
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(2015). Constructing predictive models of human running. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 12(103), 20140899
Maus, H. M., Revzen, S., Guckenheimer, J., Ludwig, C., Reger, J., & Seyfarth, A.
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(2016). A new biarticular actuator design facilitates control of leg function in BioBiped3. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 11(4), 046003
Sharbafi, M. A., Rode, C., Kurowski, S., Scholz, D., Möckel, R., Radkhah, K., & Seyfarth, A.
