Robotics
Bipedal locomotion
Definition
Bipedal locomotion is movement using two legs, with body motion coordinated through changing contacts between the feet and the environment. It includes walking and running.
Also known as: Biped locomotion
Updated
Moving the body through foot contacts
A foot can push on the ground only while it is in contact. To take a step, a robot must unload and move one foot while the remaining contacts support the required body motion. The MIT legged-robot notes explain this as a coupled problem of contact placement, contact forces, and body dynamics.
For a humanoid walking across a room, planning where to put the next foot is only part of the problem. The robot must also move its center of mass, keep the swinging foot clear of obstacles, and respect leg and actuator limits.
Recovering from disturbances
Balance recovery can combine shifting pressure under a foot, changing body angular momentum, and changing the next step. Griffin and colleagues study how step reachability and timing affect these choices. The position that would help restore balance may be outside the leg's reach or unavailable before the foot lands.
Reading a walking demonstration
Specify terrain, walking speed, support from the arms, and external assistance when describing a result. Whole-body control may coordinate many joints, but two-legged movement alone does not establish autonomous navigation or reliable operation on every surface.
Sources
Related terms
Humanoid robot
A humanoid robot is a robot with a body arranged to resemble the human form, usually with a torso, arms, and legs. The term describes its physical form and does not by itself establish human-level intelligence or general autonomy.
Center of mass
The center of mass is the mass-weighted average position of a body or a collection of bodies. For an articulated robot, its position changes as the links move.
Whole-body control
Whole-body control coordinates a robot’s joints and contacts to satisfy several motion and force objectives together. In humanoids, it commonly combines balance, foot motion, hand tasks, and posture subject to physical constraints.
Capture point
The capture point is a model-dependent location where support can be placed to bring a moving robot toward rest without further steps. In the constant-height linear inverted pendulum model, the instantaneous capture point combines center-of-mass position and velocity.