Sony Corporation

Other

Jinichi Yamaguchi

Yamaguchi, Jinichi

Tatsuzo Ishida

Yoshihiro Kuroki

Yuichi Hattori

Kunihito Sawai

Junichi Yamaguchi

Kazuhito Hori

Kozo Kawakita

Tetsuya Kagami

Tadashi Ohtsuki

Naoto Mori

Sigeru Nakamura

The stability of attitude of a robot can be recovered by an ambulation control apparatus and an ambulation control method according to the invention if it is lost in the course of a gesture for which the upper limbs take a major role. The apparatus and the method obtain the pattern of movement of the entire body for walking by deriving the pattern of movement of the loins from an arbitrarily selected pattern of movement of the feet, the trajectory of the ZMP, the pattern of movement of the trunk and that of the upper limbs. Therefore, according to the invention, a robot can determine the gait of the lower limbs so as to realize a stable walk regardless if the robot is standing upright or walking. Particularly, if the robot is made to gesture, using the upper body half including the upper limbs and the trunk while standing upright, it can determine the gait of the lower limbs so as to make a stable walk in response to such a gait of the upper body half.

Ambulation control apparatus and ambulation control method of robot

The stability of attitude of a robot can be recovered by an ambulation control apparatus and an ambulation control method if it is lost in the course of a gesture for which the upper limbs take a major role. The apparatus and the method obtain the pattern of movement of the entire body for walking by deriving the pattern of movement of the loins from an arbitrarily selected pattern of movement of the feet, the trajectory of the ZMP, the pattern of movement of the trunk and that of the upper limbs. Therefore, a robot can determine the gait of the lower limbs so as to realize a stable walk regardless if the robot is standing upright or walking. Particularly, if the robot is made to gesture, using the upper body half including the upper limbs and the trunk while standing upright, it can determine the gait of the lower limbs so as to make a stable walk in response to such a gait of the upper body half.

A predetermined action sequence is generated by using basic motion units which include time-sequential motion of each joint and compound motion units in which basic motion units are combined. Motion natterns of a robot including walking are classified into motion units, each motion unit servins as a unit of motion, and one or more motion units are combined to generate various complex motions. Dynamic motion units are defined on the basis of basic dynamic attitudes, and a desired action sequence can be generated by using the dynamic motion units. This is a basic control method necessary for a robot to autonomously perform a continuous motion, a series of continuous motions, or motions which are chanaed in real-time by commands.

Motion unit generating method for legged mobile robot

A robot operates accurately while canceling an affect of pitch-axis, rollaxis, and yaw-axis moments, these moments being applied on the robot body during a leg-moving operation such as walking. By calculating a pitch-axis moment and/or a roll-axis moment generated on the robot body at a preset ZMP by set motions of upper limbs, a trunk, and lower limbs, motions of the lower limbs and the trunk for canceling the pitch-axis moment and/or the roll-axis moment: are obtained. Then, by calculating a yaw-axis moment generated on the robot body lying at the preset ZMP by the calculated motions of the lower limbs and the trunk, a motion of the upper limbs for canceling the yaw-axis moment is obtained.

Motion controller and motion control method for legged walking robot, and robot apparatus

A legged mobile robot possesses degrees of freedom which are provided at roll, pitch, and yaw axes at a trunk. By using these degrees of freedom which are provided at the trunk, the robot can smoothly get up from any fallen-down posture. In addition, by reducing the required torque and load on movable portions other than the trunk, and by spreading/averaging out the load between each of the movable portions, concentration of a load on a particular member is prevented from occurring. As a result, the robot is operated more reliably, and energy is used with greater efficiency during a getting-up operation. The invention makes it possible for the robot to independently, reliably, and smoothly get up from various fallen-down postures such as a lying-on-the-face posture, a lying-on-the-back posture, and a lying sideways posture.

Legged mobile robot and method of controlling operation of the same

A predetermined action sequence is generated by using basic motion units which include time-sequential motion of each joint and compound motion units in which basic motion units are combined. Motion patterns of a robot including walking are classified into motion units, each motion unit serving as a unit of motion, and one or more motion units are combined to generate various complex motions. Dynamic motion units are defined on the basis of basic dynamic attitudes, and a desired action sequence can be generated by using the dynamic motion units. This is a basic control method necessary for a robot to autonomously perform a continuous motion, a series of continuous motions, or motions which are changed in real-time by commands.

Motion control for a legged robot

A humanoid robot including upper limbs, lower limbs, and a trunk. Hip joints which connect the lower limbs and the trunk each possess degrees of freedom provided in correspondence with a hip joint yaw axis, a hip joint roll axis, and a hip joint pitch axis. The humanoid robot is a leg-movement-type robot which walks on two feet. By arbitrarily offsetting the hip joint yaw axes in a roll axis direction, the effects of the movement of the center of gravity occurring when the mode of use of the robot is changed are accommodated to in order to flexibly balance the weights of the upper and lower limbs. The waist is made more compact in order to form a humanoid robot which is well proportioned and which makes it possible to prevent interference between the left and right feet when the direction of a foot is changed. Accordingly, a robot which moves naturally and in a way sufficiently indicative of emotions and feelings using fewer degrees of freedom is provided.

Robot and joint device for the same

A robot to operate accurately while canceling an affect of pitch-axis, roll-axis, and yaw-axis moments, these moments being applied on the robot body during a leg-moving operation such as walking. First, by calculating a pitch-axis moment and/or a roll-axis moment generated on the robot body at a preset ZMP by set motions of upper limbs, a trunk, and lower limbs, motions of the lower limbs and the trunk for canceling the pitch-axis moment and/or the roll-axis moment are obtained. Then, by calculating a yaw-axis moment generated on the robot body lying at the preset ZMP by the calculated motions of the lower limbs and the trunk, a motion of the upper limbs for canceling the yaw-axis moment is obtained.

Device and method for controlling operation of legged robot, and robot device

A legged mobile robot is adaptively controlled in its attitude against variable external forces to continue the operation without inversion. When the legged mobile robot kicks an object having a certain mass, such as a ball, the robot is to be prevented from being fallen down by the reactive force from the object. Even if the mass or the repulsion coefficient of the object kicked is unknown, the operation of kicking the object at a sufficiently low speed is carried out at the outset to predict the reactive force produced on actual kicking in order to predict the reactive force produced on actual kicking. The result is that the stability in attitude can be maintained on kicking at an arbitrary speed. The legged mobile robot is able to take part as one of the players in athletic games, such as soccer games, in which each player performs his or her role as the or she is subjected to an external force.

Legged mobile robot and method and apparatus for controlling the operation thereof

A legged mobile robot possesses degrees of freedom which are provided at roll, pitch, and yaw axes at a trunk. By using these degrees of freedom which are provided at the trunk, the robot can smoothly get up from any fallen-down posture. In addition, by reducing the required torque and load on movable portions other than the trunk, and by spreading/averaging out the load between each of the movable portions, concentration of a load on a particular member is prevented from occurring. As a result, the robot is operated more reliably, and energy is used with greater efficiency during a getting-up operation. The robot independently, reliably, and smoothly gets up from various fallen-down postures such as a lying-on-the-face posture, a lying-on-the-back posture, and a lying sideways posture.

A controlling apparatus for a robot of the type formed by a plurality of joint actuators and operating in accordance with a behavioral schedule comprises a behavior scheduling unit for setting a robot's behavioral schedule, an operation controller for implementing an operational pattern corresponding to the behavioral schedule as determined by the behavior scheduling unit by driving each joint actuator, a detector for detecting the state of operation implementation by the operation controller and a recording unit for recording a log including the behavioral schedule by the behavior scheduling unit and the state of operation implementation by the detector. A user issuing a command for the robot is authenticated and the contents of the command supplied from the user are recorded in combination with the behavior taken by the robot responsive to the command and the time point of implementation of the behavior.

Control device and control method for robot

A robot provides a communicating means to move based on the transmission and reception of information to/from the outside, thereby making it possible to realize a robot with high usability. In addition, it recognizes the user's condition based on sensors provided around a user and outputs a response message according to the recognition. Thus, an information processing system which is very helpful can be realized.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Tatsuzo Ishida