Estimation of Balance Stability States for Legged Robotic Systems

Author(s):  
Carlotta Mummolo ◽  
Luigi Mangialardi ◽  
Joo H. Kim

A three-dimensional criterion is provided for the estimation of balance stability states of legged robotic systems subject to various constraints. A general framework is established to evaluate the balance stability boundary of a given system in the state space of Center of Mass (COM) Cartesian position and velocity. For each assigned COM initial position, an optimization-based iterative algorithm finds the minimum and maximum COM initial velocity that the system can handle along a given direction, such that it maintains the capability to reach a final static equilibrium. The resulting set of velocity extrema constitutes the system’s balance stability boundary, which represents the sufficient condition to estimate falling states versus balanced states, according to the definitions provided herein. The COM state space domain identified with this approach contains all possible balanced states for the given legged system, with respect to the necessary physical, balancing, and design constraints. The balance state estimation is demonstrated for 1- and 2-degrees of freedom planar legged systems in single support. The domain identified by the balance stability boundary can be used as a “map” for the given legged system in which the distance from a given state to the domain boundaries can provide a quantitative measure of balance stability/instability.

GEODYNAMICS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2(31)2021 (2(31)) ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Fys ◽  
◽  
Andrii Brydun ◽  
Mariana Yurkiv ◽  
Andrii Sohor ◽  
...  

Purpose. To investigate the features of the algorithm implementation for finding the derivatives of the spatial distribution function of the planet's masses with the use of high-order Stokes constants and, on the basis of this, to find its analytical expression. According to the given methodology, to carry out calculations with the help of which to carry on the study of dynamic phenomena occurring inside an ellipsoidal planet. The proposed method involves the determination of the derivatives of the mass distribution function by the sum, the coefficients of which are obtained from the system of equations, which is incorrect. In order to solve it, an error-resistant method for calculating unknowns was used. The implementation of the construction is carried out in an iterative way, while for the initial approximation we take the three-dimensional function of the density of the Earth's masses, built according to Stokes constants up to the second order inclusive, by dynamic compression by the one-dimensional density distribution, and we determine the expansion coefficients of the derivatives of the function in the variables to the third order inclusive. They are followed by the corresponding density function, which is then taken as the initial one. The process is repeated until the specified order of approximation is reached. To obtain a stable result, we use the Cesaro summation method (method of means).. The calculations performed with the help of programs that implement the given algorithm, while the achieved high (ninth) order of obtaining the terms of the sum of calculations. The studies of the convergence of the sum of the series have been carried out, and on this basis, a conclusion has been made about the advisability of using the generalized finding of the sums based on the Cesaro method. The optimal number of contents of the sum terms has been chosen, provides convergence both for the mass distribution function and for its derivatives. Calculations of the deviations of mass distribution from the mean value ("inhomogeneities") for extreme points of the earth's geoid, which basically show the total compensation along the radius of the Earth, have been performed. For such three-dimensional distributions, calculations were performed and schematic maps were constructed according to the taken into account values of deviations of three-dimensional distributions of the mean ("inhomogeneities") at different depths reflecting the general structure of the Earth's internal structure. The presented vector diagrams of the horizontal components of the density gradient at characteristic depths (2891 km - core-mantle, 700 km - middle of the mantle, also the upper mantle - 200, 100 km) allow us to draw preliminary conclusions about the global movement of masses. At the same time, a closed loop is observed on the “core-mantle” edge, which is an analogy of a closed electric circuit. For shallower depths, differentiation of vector motions is already taking place, which gives hope for attracting these vector-grams to the study of dynamic motions inside the Earth. In fact, the vertical component (derivative with respect to the z variable) is directed towards the center of mass and confirms the main property of mass distributions - growth when approaching the center of mass. The method of stable solution of incorrect linear systems is applied, by means of which the vector-gram of the gradient of the mass distribution function is constructed. The nature of such schemes provides a tool for possible causes of mass redistribution in the middle of the planet and to identify possible factors of tectonic processes in the middle of the Earth, i.e indirectly confirms the gravitational convection of masses. The proposed technique can be used to create detailed models of density functions and its characteristics (derivatives) of the planet's interior, and the results of numerical experiments - to solve tectonics problems.


Author(s):  
Alireza Ramezani ◽  
Jonathan W. Hurst ◽  
Kaveh Akbari Hamed ◽  
J. W. Grizzle

This paper develops feedback controllers for walking in 3D, on level ground, with energy efficiency as the performance objective. Assume The Robot Is A Sphere (ATRIAS) 2.1 is a new robot that has been designed for the study of 3D bipedal locomotion, with the aim of combining energy efficiency, speed, and robustness with respect to natural terrain variations in a single platform. The robot is highly underactuated, having 6 actuators and, in single support, 13 degrees of freedom. Its sagittal plane dynamics are designed to embody the spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP), which has been shown to provide a dynamic model of the body center of mass during steady running gaits of a wide diversity of terrestrial animals. A detailed dynamic model is used to optimize walking gaits with respect to the cost of mechanical transport (CMT), a dimensionless measure of energetic efficiency, for walking speeds ranging from 0.5 (m/s) to 1.4 (m/s). A feedback controller is designed that stabilizes the 3D walking gaits, despite the high degree of underactuation of the robot. The 3D results are illustrated in simulation. In experiments on a planarized (2D) version of the robot, the controller yielded stable walking.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (14) ◽  
pp. 2050200
Author(s):  
Reza Esbati Lavasani ◽  
Shahrokh Shams

This paper investigates the effects of the unsteady nonlinear aerodynamic, plunge/pitch cubic nonlinearities, flap free-play nonlinearity, and coupled nonlinear aeroelasticity on the dynamics of the three-dimensional blade section. The dynamic stall model is developed based on the unsteady Wagner aerodynamics. Coupling the developed nonlinear aerodynamic model and nonlinear elasticity model results in the nonlinear aeroelastic model. The nonlinear aeroelastic equation of motion is converted into a state-space form. The resulting nonlinear state-space equation of motion is simulated by a standard Runge–Kutta algorithm in MATLAB. The proposed model is validated against test data of distinct two- and three-degrees-of-freedom studies and is compared to the ONERA model. Bifurcation diagrams show that there is distinct airspeed, in which the system experiences limit cycle oscillations (LCOs) or chaos. Both hysteresis air loads and structural nonlinearity make the system unstable at airspeed less than linear flutter speed. The nonlinearity of the structure causes supercritical pitchfork bifurcation. Elastic-aerodynamic nonlinearity interaction causes sub-supercritical bifurcation at the lower airspeed and chaotic motion at a higher airspeed. Furthermore, the effects of the initial condition on the response of the nonlinear aero-servo-elastic system are investigated by the Lyapunov exponent method.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-311
Author(s):  
Yu. Kurochkin ◽  
Dz. Shoukavy ◽  
I. Boyarina

The immobility of the center of mass in spaces of constant curvature is postulated based on its definition obtained in [1]. The system of two particles which interact through a potential depending only on the distance between particles on a three-dimensional sphere is considered. The Hamilton-Jacobi equation is formulated and its solutions and trajectory equations are found. It was established that the reduced mass of the system depends on the relative distance.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 444
Author(s):  
Guoning Si ◽  
Liangying Sun ◽  
Zhuo Zhang ◽  
Xuping Zhang

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel three-dimensional (3D) three-fingered electrothermal microgripper with multiple degrees of freedom (multi DOFs). Each finger of the microgripper is composed of a V-shaped electrothermal actuator providing one DOF, and a 3D U-shaped electrothermal actuator offering two DOFs in the plane perpendicular to the movement of the V-shaped actuator. As a result, each finger possesses 3D mobilities with three DOFs. Each beam of the actuators is heated externally with the polyimide film. The durability of the polyimide film is tested under different voltages. The static and dynamic properties of the finger are also tested. Experiments show that not only can the microgripper pick and place microobjects, such as micro balls and even highly deformable zebrafish embryos, but can also rotate them in 3D space.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 580
Author(s):  
Anna Lena Emonds ◽  
Katja Mombaur

As a whole, human sprinting seems to be a completely periodic and symmetrical motion. This view is changed when a person runs with a running-specific prosthesis after a unilateral amputation. The aim of our study is to investigate differences and similarities between unilateral below-knee amputee and non-amputee sprinters—especially with regard to whether asymmetry is a distracting factor for sprint performance. We established three-dimensional rigid multibody models of one unilateral transtibial amputee athlete and for reference purposes of three non-amputee athletes. They consist of 16 bodies (head, ipper, middle and lower trunk, upper and lower arms, hands, thighs, shanks and feet/running specific prosthesis) with 30 or 31 degrees of freedom (DOFs) for the amputee and the non-amputee athletes, respectively. Six DOFs are associated with the floating base, the remaining ones are rotational DOFs. The internal joints are equipped with torque actuators except for the prosthetic ankle joint. To model the spring-like properties of the prosthesis, the actuator is replaced by a linear spring-damper system. We consider a pair of steps which is modeled as a multiphase problem with each step consisting of a flight, touchdown and single-leg contact phase. Each phase is described by its own set of differential equations. By combining motion capture recordings with a least squares optimal control problem formulation including constraints, we reconstructed the dynamics of one sprinting trial for each athlete. The results show that even the non-amputee athletes showed less symmetrical sprinting than expected when examined on an individual level. Nevertheless, the asymmetry is much more pronounced in the amputee athlete. The amputee athlete applies larger torques in the arm and trunk joints to compensate the asymmetry and experiences a destabilizing influence of the trunk movement. Hence, the inter-limb asymmetry of the amputee has a significant effect on the control of the sprint movement and the maintenance of an upright body position.


Author(s):  
Xiaoli Zhang ◽  
Carl A. Nelson

The size and limited dexterity of current surgical robotic systems are factors which limit their usefulness. To improve the level of assimilation of surgical robots in minimally invasive surgery (MIS), a compact, lightweight surgical robotic positioning mechanism with four degrees of freedom (DOF) (three rotational DOF and one translation DOF) is proposed in this paper. This spatial mechanism based on a bevel-gear wrist is remotely driven with three rotation axes intersecting at a remote rotation center (the MIS entry port). Forward and inverse kinematics are derived, and these are used for optimizing the mechanism structure given workspace requirements. By evaluating different spherical geared configurations with various link angles and pitch angles, an optimal design is achieved which performs surgical tool positioning throughout the desired kinematic workspace while occupying a small space bounded by a hemisphere of radius 13.7 cm. This optimized workspace conservatively accounts for collision avoidance between patient and robot or internally between the robot links. This resultant mechanism is highly compact and yet has the dexterity to cover the extended workspace typically required in telesurgery. It can also be used for tool tracking and skills assessment. Due to the linear nature of the gearing relationships, it may also be well suited for implementing force feedback for telesurgery.


Author(s):  
Rahid Zaman ◽  
Yujiang Xiang ◽  
Jazmin Cruz ◽  
James Yang

In this study, the three-dimensional (3D) asymmetric maximum weight lifting is predicted using an inverse-dynamics-based optimization method considering dynamic joint torque limits. The dynamic joint torque limits are functions of joint angles and angular velocities, and imposed on the hip, knee, ankle, wrist, elbow, shoulder, and lumbar spine joints. The 3D model has 40 degrees of freedom (DOFs) including 34 physical revolute joints and 6 global joints. A multi-objective optimization (MOO) problem is solved by simultaneously maximizing box weight and minimizing the sum of joint torque squares. A total of 12 male subjects were recruited to conduct maximum weight box lifting using squat-lifting strategy. Finally, the predicted lifting motion, ground reaction forces, and maximum lifting weight are validated with the experimental data. The prediction results agree well with the experimental data and the model’s predictive capability is demonstrated. This is the first study that uses MOO to predict maximum lifting weight and 3D asymmetric lifting motion while considering dynamic joint torque limits. The proposed method has the potential to prevent individuals’ risk of injury for lifting.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Johnson ◽  
Xianwen Kong ◽  
James Ritchie

The determination of workspace is an essential step in the development of parallel manipulators. By extending the virtual-chain (VC) approach to the type synthesis of parallel manipulators, this technical brief proposes a VC approach to the workspace analysis of parallel manipulators. This method is first outlined before being illustrated by the production of a three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided-design (CAD) model of a 3-RPS parallel manipulator and evaluating it for the workspace of the manipulator. Here, R, P and S denote revolute, prismatic and spherical joints respectively. The VC represents the motion capability of moving platform of a manipulator and is shown to be very useful in the production of a graphical representation of the workspace. Using this approach, the link interferences and certain transmission indices can be easily taken into consideration in determining the workspace of a parallel manipulator.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document