Generation of Minimal Energy Joint Trajectories during Single Support Phase for 3-dimensional Bipedal Walking

Abstract

This paper introduces a method to generate minimal energy joint trajectories during a single support phase of linear inverted pendulum model (LIPM)-based biped walking. By using a variational approach and B-spline curves, this method is able to generate new set of joint configurations. This joint set minimizes the cost function which reduces the energy consumption while keeping the center of mass almost at the same position in x-, y-and z-directions. Constraining the center of mass to be the same during minimization helps in conserving the zero moment point (ZMP) of the predefined walking trajectory. The energy consumption function is represented by the actuator's electrical energy which consists of copper loss and mechanical energy. From the simulation results, it is verified that the proposed method is effective.