Abstract: 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.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: In a mobile robot, the actuator characteristics are dynamically or statically controlled, during motions of an entire robot body in the course of falldown or descent, to realize stable highly efficient motions. In each stage of the falldown motions, the characteristics of each joint site taking part in controlling the stable area are set so that the low range gain is low, the quantity of phase lead is large and the viscous resistance of the motor is large, in such a manner that these joint sites may be positioned to high accuracy in a controller manner to increase orientation stability. This assures the positioning accuracy of the joints as main component for controlling the quantity &Dgr;S/&Dgr;t as a reference in controlling the falldown motions of the robot body to increase the motion stability.

Abstract: The characteristics of actuators themselves and the characteristics of controllers for the actuators are dynamically or statically controlled to achieve stable and highly efficient movements. In a stage in which a leg in the flight state is uplifted such that the reactive force from the floor received by the foot sole of the leg is zero, the characteristics of the respective actuators for the knee joint pitch axis and the ankle pitch and roll axes of the leg in the flight state are set for decreasing the low range gain, increasing the quantity of phase lead and for decreasing the viscous resistance of the actuators, in order to impart mechanical passiveness and fast response characteristics. The followup control for the high frequency range may be achieved as the force of impact at the instant of touchdown is buffered.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: 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.