Bipedal robotic walking control derived from analysis of human locomotion

This paper proposes the design of a bipedal robotic controller where the function between the sensory input and motor output is treated as a black box derived from human data. In order to achieve this, we investigated the causal relationship between ground contact information from the feet and leg muscle activity n human walking and calculated filter functions which transform sensory signals to motor actions. A minimal, nonlinear, and robust control system was created and subsequently analysed by applying it to our bipedal robot RunBot III without any central pattern generators or precise trajectory control. The results demonstrate that our controller can generate stable robotic walking. This indicates that complex locomotion patterns can result from a simple model based on reflexes and supports the premise that human-derived control strategies have potential applications in robotics or assistive devices. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00422-018-0750-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.