Poppy humanoid platform: Experimental evaluation of the role of a bio-inspired thigh shape

Abstract

Abstract-In this paper, we present an experimental evaluation of the role of the morphology in the Poppy humanoid platform. More precisely, we have investigated the impact of the bio-inspired thigh, bended of 6 o , on the balance and biped locomotion. We compare this design with a more traditional straight thigh. We describe both the theoretical model and real experiments showing that the bio-inspired thigh allows the reduction of falling speed by almost 60% (single support phase) and the decrease of the lateral motion needed for the mass transfer from one foot to the other by 30% (double support phase). We also present an experiment where the robot walks on a treadmill thanks to the social and physical guidance of expert users and we show that the bended thigh reduces the upper body motion by about 45% indicating a more stable walk.

Human-Derived Disturbance Estimation and Compensation (DEC) Method Lends Itself to a Modular Sensorimotor Control in a Humanoid Robot

“…There, it will account for changes in the robot's configuration with the alternation between the double leg support and the single leg support while the other leg swings. Smooth human-like walking in future DEC implementations may furthermore benefit from DEC extensions in terms of whole body coordination, which may includes the upper body, and it will involve integration of an open loop gait pattern (compare Lapeyre et al, 2013a , b ). Predictions of disturbance estimates through both down- and up-channeling of signals that are produced during voluntary and reactive movements—with an expected improvement of control stability from lower noise and shorter time delay as compared to sensor-derived signals.…”

“…There, it will account for changes in the robot's configuration with the alternation between the double leg support and the single leg support while the other leg swings. Smooth human-like walking in future DEC implementations may furthermore benefit from DEC extensions in terms of whole body coordination, which may includes the upper body, and it will involve integration of an open loop gait pattern (compare Lapeyre et al, 2013a , b ).…”

Reachy, a 3D-Printed Human-Like Robotic Arm as a Testbed for Human-Robot Control Strategies

“…Reachy was designed by the creators of the Poppy project (Lapeyre et al, 2014), a family of robots for research, art and education that rely on a common software and hardware architecture, but display a variety of shapes, features and purposes. In particular, the first robot of this family, Poppy Humanoid, was originally designed to investigate the role of morphology in biped locomotion (Lapeyre et al, 2013), thus generating the need for a platform whose parts could easily be redesigned, produced then assembled. The aforementioned design principles directly stem from the philosophy and technical solutions that drove Poppy's development.…”

An Overview of Humanoid Robots Technologies

“…Another approach consists in using servomotors with which it is possible to lower the gains and hence to allow the actuator to be compliant. This strategy is used for instance by the Poppy robot [39].…”