BLUE: A 3D Dynamic Bipedal Robot

TL;DR

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and preliminary validation of a 3D dynamic bipedal robot with six actuated degrees of freedom, capable of standing and walking, emphasizing lightweight design and flexible actuation.

Contribution

The work introduces a novel 3D bipedal robot with topology-optimized, 3D printed parts and flexible actuators, advancing dynamic walking capabilities in underactuated robots.

Findings

Robot can maintain a stand-up position

Prototype validates actuator selection and lightweight design

Preliminary experiments show potential for stable walking

Abstract

The objective of this work is to design a mechatronic bipedal robot with mobility in 3D environments. The designed robot has a total of six actuated degrees of freedom (DoF), each leg has two DoF located at the hip: one for abduction/adduction and another for thigh flexion/extension, and a third DoF at the knee for the shin flexion/extension. This robot is designed with point-feet legs to achieve a dynamic underactuated walking. Each actuator in the robot includes a DC gear motor, an encoder for position measurement, a flexible joint to form a series flexible actuator, and a feedback controller to ensure trajectory tracking. In order to reduce the total mass of the robot, the shin is designed using topology optimization. The resulting design is fabricated using 3D printed parts, which allows to get a robot's prototype to validate the selection of actuators. The preliminary experiments confirm the robot's ability to maintain a stand-up position and let us drawn future works in dynamic control and trajectory generation for periodic stable walking.