Publication
Design, Analysis and Control of the Series-Parallel Hybrid RH5 Humanoid Robot
Julian Eßer; Shivesh Kumar; Heiner Peters; Vinzenz Bargsten; José de Gea Fernández; Carlos Mastalli; Olivier Stasse; Frank Kirchner
In: 2020 IEEE-RAS 20th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids). IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids-2020), July 19-21, Munich/Virtual, Germany, Pages 400-407, IEEE, 7/2021.
Abstract
Last decades of humanoid research has shown
that humanoids developed for high dynamic performance
require a stiff structure and optimal distribution of mass–
inertial properties. Humanoid robots built with a purely tree
type architecture tend to be bulky and usually suffer from
velocity and force/torque limitations. This paper presents a
novel series-parallel hybrid humanoid called RH5 which is 2 m
tall and weighs only 62.5 kg capable of performing heavy-duty
dynamic tasks with 5 kg payloads in each hand. The analysis
and control of this humanoid is performed with whole-body
trajectory optimization technique based on differential dynamic
programming (DDP). Additionally, we present an improved
contact stability soft-constrained DDP algorithm which is able
to generate physically consistent walking trajectories for the
humanoid that can be tracked via a simple PD position
control in a physics simulator. Finally, we showcase preliminary
experimental results on the RH5 humanoid robot.