We seek the control strategies that are applicable on legged robots and control them to run in real world as robust and efficient as animals. To achieve this goal, we need to understand the principles of legged locomotion and the control policies that animals use during running. In this study...
Bipedal locomotion is a complex phenomenon to understand and control, making it difficult for legged robots to achieve the speed, agility, efficiency, and robustness of their animal counterparts. This thesis argues for the use of numerical optimization to investigate and implement bipedal control as it applies to biology, dynamical models,...
Practical bipedal robots need to be simultaneously efficient, robust, and versatile machines, but designing robots dynamically capable of these demands has been a significant bottleneck. We designed ATRIAS to be a highly dynamic biped capable of both walking and running untethered in real environments. To meet these goals, ATRIAS is...
The ATRIAS agile humanoid robot, along with a number of other spring-mass walking
machines, currently have two instabilities: one resulting from inertial forces on the torso
which cause the robot to spin like a top, and another resulting from stiff ground collisions
which cause chattering of the point-contact toes. This...
The objective of this study is to propose control strategies for legged robots to walk and run naturally like humans and animals. To achieve this goal, we use the spring-mass model for the legged robots to be able to create the same dynamics in the leg as humans and animals....
We present a novel control strategy for running which is robust to disturbances, and makes excellent use of passive dynamics for energy economy. The motivation for our control strategy is based on observations of animals, which are able to economically walk and run over varying terrain and ground dynamics. It...
Bipedal robots represent a unique class of control problems that combine many of the most difficult elements of nonlinear control. These robots are typically designed to be mobile and as such have limited energy and actuator authority making efficiency a prime concern. Unlike wheeled robots, legged robots must transition between...
For robotic manipulation tasks in uncertain environments, research typically revolves around developing the best possible software control strategy. However, the passive dynamics of the mechanical system, including inertia, stiffness, damping and torque limits, often impose performance limitations that cannot be overcome with software control. Discussions about the passive dynamics are...
Modern walking robots have shown that dynamic gaits can be achieved without ankle motors. It seems logical that the additional control authority that they provide can be used to improve the stability of the walking gait against foot placement errors caused by low level control. This thesis develops and compares...
Gas turbine engines for propulsion applications can use fuel as a coolant, exposing the fuel to high temperatures well within the ranges associated with thermal decomposition. Species produced as a result of these processes have been shown to correlate with changes in the combustion performance of the fuels. In this...
_____________________________________________________________________
Jonathan Michael Bonebrake, Committee Member, representing School of Mechanical,
Industrial