Bipedal Robot Walking Control Using Human Whole-Body Dynamic Telelocomotion

TL;DR

This paper introduces a dynamic telelocomotion framework that synchronizes human gait with a bipedal robot's walking, enabling stable and responsive teleoperation through a virtual human model and force feedback.

Contribution

It presents a novel method to generate a virtual human model from pilot behavior and synchronizes robot walking with human input via force-based control, advancing teleoperation capabilities.

Findings

Successful synchronization of human gait with robot walking.

Stable teleoperation demonstrated through experiments.

Effective disturbance rejection during walking tasks.

Abstract

For humanoids to be deployed in demanding situations, such as search and rescue, highly intelligent decision making and proficient sensorimotor skill is expected. A promising solution is to leverage human prowess by interconnecting robot and human via teleoperation. Towards creating seamless operation, this paper presents a dynamic telelocomotion framework that synchronizes the gait of a human pilot with the walking of a bipedal robot. First, we introduce a method to generate a virtual human walking model from the stepping behavior of a human pilot which serves as a reference for the robot to walk. Second, the dynamics of the walking reference and robot walking are synchronized by applying forces to the human pilot and the robot to achieve dynamic similarity between the two systems. This enables the human pilot to continuously perceive and cancel any asynchrony between the walking reference and robot. A consistent step placement strategy for the robot is derived to maintain dynamic similarity through step transitions. Using our human-machine-interface, we demonstrate that the human pilot can achieve stable and synchronous teleoperation of a simulated robot through stepping-in-place, walking, and disturbance rejection experiments. This work provides a fundamental step towards transferring human intelligence and reflexes to humanoid robots.