Design, construction, and experiments with a compass gait walking robot

In recent years a number of new computational techniques for the control of nonlinear and underactuated systems have been developed and tested largely in theory and simulation. In order to better understand how these new tools are applied to real systems and to expose areas where the theory is lacking testing on a physical model system is necessary. In this thesis a human scale, free walking, planar bipedal walking robot is designed and several of these new control techniques are tested. These include system identification via simulation error optimization, simulation based LQR-Trees, and transverse stabilization of trajectories. Emphasis is put on the topics of designing highly dynamic robots, practical considerations in implementation of these advanced control strategies, and exploring where these techniques need additional development.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Jackowski, Zachary John

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Russell L Tedrake.

• 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/1721.1/67617

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/67617