DEVELOPMENT OF A LEG PART OF A HUMANOID ROBOT - DESIGN OF A BIPED WALKING ROBOT HAVING ANTAGONISTIC DRIVEN JOINTS USING A NONLINEAR SPRING MECHANISM

The authors are engaged in studies of biped walking robots from the fo llowing two viewpoints. One is a viewpoint as a human science. The oth er is a viewpoint towards the development of humanoid robots. In the c urrent research concerning a biped walking robot, there is no develope d example of a life-size biped walking robot with antagonistically dri ven joints by which the human musculo-skeletal system is imitated in t he lower limbs. Humans are considered to exhibit walking behavior whic h is both efficient and capable of flexibly coping with contact with t he outside environment. However, developed biped walking robots cannot realize human walking. The human joint is driven by two or more antag onistic muscle groups. Humans can vary the joint stiffness, using nonl inear spring characteristics possessed by the muscles themselves. The function is an indispensable function for a humanoid. Therefore, the a uthors designed and built an anthropomorphic biped walking robot havin g antagonistic driven joints. In this paper, the authors introduce the design method of the robot. The authors performed walking experiments with the robot. As a result, a quasi-dynamic biped walking using anta gonist driven joint was realized. The walking speed was 7.68 s per ste p with a 0.1 m step length.