Observer-based dynamic walking control for biped robots

This article presents a novel observer-based control system to achieve reactive motion generation for dynamic biped walking. The proposed approach combines a feedback controller with an online generated feet pattern to assure a stable gait. Using the desired speed of the robot, a preview control system derives the dynamics of the robot’s body, and thereby the trajectory of its center of mass, to ensure a zero moment point (ZMP) movement, which results in a stable execution of the calculated step pattern. Extending the control system by an observer, based on this knowledge and the measured sensor values, compensates for errors in the model parameters and disturbances encountering while walking.