Full dynamics LQR control of a humanoid robot: An experimental study on balancing and squatting

Sean Mason, Ludovic Righetti, Stefan Schaal

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Humanoid robots operating in human environments require whole-body controllers that can offer precise tracking and well-defined disturbance rejection behavior. In this contribution, we propose an experimental evaluation of a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) using a linearization of the full robot dynamics together with the contact constraints. The advantage of the controller is that it explicitly takes into account the coupling between the different joints to create optimal feedback controllers for whole-body control. We also propose a method to explicitly regulate other tasks of interest, such as the regulation of the center of mass of the robot or its angular momentum. In order to evaluate the performance of linear optimal control designs in a real-world scenario (model uncertainty, sensor noise, imperfect state estimation, etc), we test the controllers in a variety of tracking and balancing experiments on a torque controlled humanoid (e.g. balancing, split plane balancing, squatting, pushes while squatting, and balancing on a wheeled platform). The proposed control framework shows a reliable push recovery behavior competitive with more sophisticated balance controllers, rejecting impulses up to 11.7 Ns with peak forces of 650 N, with the added advantage of great computational simplicity. Furthermore, the controller is able to track squatting trajectories up to 1 Hz without relinearization, suggesting that the linearized dynamics is sufficient for significant ranges of motion.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2014 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Humanoids 2014
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages374-379
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781479971749
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 12 2015
Event2014 14th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Humanoids 2014 - Madrid, Spain
Duration: Nov 18 2014Nov 20 2014

Publication series

NameIEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots
Volume2015-February
ISSN (Print)2164-0572
ISSN (Electronic)2164-0580

Other

Other2014 14th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Humanoids 2014
Country/TerritorySpain
CityMadrid
Period11/18/1411/20/14

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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