Real-Time Walking Pattern Generation Method for Humanoid Robots by Combining Feedback and Feedforward Controller

Abstract

This paper focuses on real-time walking pattern generation for humanoid robots with linear inverted pendulum model (LIPM). In general, there are many issues in generating proper walking patterns of center of mass and zero moment point (ZMP) with the LIPM since the LIPM has two drawbacks such as instability and non-minimum phase property. For resolving these difficulties, the paper proposes a new real-time approach by combining a feedback and a feedforward controller. The feedback controller employs a pole placement method which shifts the poles of the LIPM in order to improve system stability. The feedforward controller utilizes advanced pole-zero cancelation by series approximation method (APZCSA) for reducing non-minimum phase property which occurs by an unstable zero and is not able to be dealt with by the feedback controller. In addition, the APZCSA improves the tracking error induced by finite series approximation. Using the two controllers, the proposed method makes the transfer function of overall walking pattern generation system approximately unity and consequently generates a stable walking pattern which follows a desired ZMP according to walking path. The efficiency of the proposed method is verified by walking pattern planning examples and experiments with the humanoid robot MAHRU-R.