Mechanical design of a simple bipedal robot

The thesis objective was to design a walking robot appropriate for testing a machine earning control system. As a robot that would learn how to walk, it was pre-maturely named Toddler. The passive dynamic walker, a class of simple robots driven by gravity and inertia, was selected as the model for the Toddler robot. Two preliminary passive walkers were explored: a three-dimensional, toy-like biped with one degree of freedom at the hip; and a two-dimensional, four-legged kneed walker with degrees of freedom at the hip and knees. Bench level and computer modeled analyses were conducted during the design and construction of these robots. The simpler, toy-like walker was selected as the unactuated model for actuated Toddler. Two degrees of freedom, controlling step size and frequency, were introduced at the ankle. Toddler was able to walk with a dynamically-stable gait either passively down a ramp, or actively on a flat or slightly uphill surface. With its simple design and robust performance, Toddler provides an excellent platform for testing machine learning control in walking robotics.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Fong, Ming-fai

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• H. Sebastian Seung.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32858

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32858