Aldebaran Robotics

Softbank Robotics Europe

Aldebaran Robotics S.a

Bellatrix

Sotralu (Société Par Actions Simplifiée)

Pascal Lafourcade

Bruno Maisonnier

Alain Berthoz

Amandio Garrido

Cyril Berton

Marc Joly

Romain Fischesser

Guillaume Ferris

Pierre Hervé Damme

Thomas Peel

A computer program and a system for controlling walking of a mobile robot, notably a humanoid robot moving on two legs. Conventionally, control was guided by driving a zero moment point. Such driving was performed within a fixed coordinate system connected to a progression surface and assumed knowledge of the characteristics of said surface and the creation of a provisional trajectory. Such driving encountered significant limitations due to the nature of the progression surfaces on which walking can effectively be controlled and an obligation to have a perfect knowledge of their geometry; and also in respect to the necessary computing power, and the appearance of the walk which bore little resemblance to an actual human walk. The invention overcomes such limitations by providing a walk which includes a pseudo-free or ballistic phase, an impulse phase imparted by the heel of the robot, and a landing phase.

Method for controlling the walking motion of a mobile robot, and robot implementing said method

A motorized joint having two degrees of freedom in rotation connecting two elements is provided. The joint includes two pivot connections such that a first one of the pivot connections establishes a first pivot axis, and a second one of the pivot connections establishes a second pivot axis. The first pivot axis is not parallel to the second pivot axis. A first motor is disposed in fixed relation to a first one of the two elements and has a drive shaft aligned with a first drive axis so as to cause by means of a first speed reducer with parallel axes the two elements to rotate about the first pivot axis. A second motor having a second drive shaft aliened with a second drive axis parallel to the first drive axis of the first motor is affixed to an output portion of the first speed reducer for axial rotation therewith about the first pivot axis so as to cause by means of a second speed reducer including a bevel gear relative rotational movement of the two elements with respect to one another about the second pivot axis. Also, the joint may be implemented as part of a humanoid robot.

Motorized joint with two pivot connections and humanoid robot which implements the joint

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Toulouse, France

Pascal Lafourcade