Performance satisfaction in Harpy, a thruster-assisted bipedal robot

TL;DR

This paper explores feedback design for thruster-assisted bipedal robot walking, focusing on trajectory fine-tuning and hybrid invariance to improve performance satisfaction using reference governors and predictive schemes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel control approach combining reference governors and predictive schemes tailored for thruster-assisted bipedal robots.

Findings

Successful implementation of hybrid invariance guarantees.

Effective trajectory adjustments improve walking stability.

Robust control scheme adapts to impact deviations.

Abstract

We will report our efforts in designing feedback for the thruster-assisted walking of a bipedal robot. We will assume for well-tuned supervisory controllers and will focus on fine-tuning the desired joint trajectories to satisfy the performance being sought. In doing this, we will devise an intermediary filter based on the emerging idea of reference governors. Since these modifications and impact events lead to deviations from the desired periodic orbits, we will guarantee hybrid invariance in a robust fashion by applying predictive schemes within a short time envelope during the double support phase of a gait cycle. To achieve the hybrid invariance, we will leverage the unique features in our robot, i.e., the thruster.