Development of composite foot structure including ground reaction force sensing for fast biped robots

Abstract

Biped robots have high potential for rough terrain movement, mission performance, and narrow space movement. Especially, the necessity for a high-speed running legged robot is emerging, and there is a high demand for a core technology to realize this. The foot structure of the legged robot is a part in direct contact with the ground, and plays a very important role in supporting a stable body weight, generation of forward power, and shock absorption during fast running. In particular, proper compliance with legs and feet is essential for fast and efficient operation. In this thesis, we developed a flexible foot using carbon fiber composite material with excellent mechanical properties and evaluated its performance. We also developed a nonlinear composite compliant foot that utilizes nonlinear compliance effectively to increase the speed of the robot. Finally, a sensor integrated composite foot structure that can measure the ground reaction force in real time for control and utilization has been studied.