Abstract: A method for generating a gait of a two-legged walking robot having a body, two articulated legs each connected to the body through a hip joint and each including a thigh link, a crus link connected to the thigh link through a knee joint and a foot connected to the crus link through an ankle joint, the robot being configured to drive the articulated legs as a foreleg and a hind leg such that the hind leg kicks ground to walk in a direction. In the method, a position of the robot body at a time when the hind leg has kicked the ground is estimated, and an amount of lift, in the direction of gravity, of a heel of the foot of the hind leg is determined such that the robot body will reach at least the estimated position. Then a vertical amplitude of the robot body trajectory is temporarily determined and is then corrected such that the vertical acceleration becomes a desired value, and the gait is then determined or generated based thereon. The robot locomotion is then controlled based on the generated gait.

Abstract: A system for controlling navigation, more particularly a current position recognition for a biped walking robot in a navigation environment. A map of the environment is prepared in advance. In the map shape features of an object such as stairs are predesignated. The robot has a vision sensor and in its navigation, the robot recognizes its current position from the shape feature. Evaluation functions are also preestablished for selecting one pair among the shape features, which are defined with respect a distance between the object and the robot and an angle determined by a pair of shape features in such a manner that two shape features existing not far from the robot and an angle determined by the two shape features are relatively large. A path is predesignated and robot motion is described in terms of basic walking patterns such as strait forward, direction change and step length adjustment. More specifically, robot joints are driven to realize the described motion such that the robot walks along the path.

Abstract: A flywheel is equipped with dynamic dampers in the form of fluid-containing chambers. The fluid in each chamber has a characteristic frequency of oscillation that is a constant multiple of the rotational speed of the flywheel. In preferred embodiments, the characteristic frequency corresponds approximately to the strongest vibrational component produced during the operation of an engine on which the flywheel is mounted. When the flywheel is rotated, the fluid in the chambers vibrates and absorbs vibrations imparted to the flywheel.