Footstep contact detection
AssigneeBoston Dynamics, Inc.
InventorsEric Whitman, Alex Khripin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of footstep contact detection includes receiving joint dynamics data for a swing phase of a swing leg of the robot, receiving odometry data indicative of a pose of the robot, determining whether an impact on the swing leg is indicative of a touchdown of the swing leg based on the joint dynamics data and an amount of completion of the swing phase, and determining when the impact on the swing leg is not indicative of the touchdown of the swing leg, a cause of the impact based on the joint dynamics data and the odometry data.
Claims21
A method of footstep contact detection, the method comprising:
- receiving, at data processing hardware of a robot, joint dynamics data associated with a leg of the robot;
- receiving, at data processing hardware of the robot, odometry data indicative of a pose of the robot;
- determining, by the data processing hardware, based on the joint dynamics data and an amount of completion of a swing phase of the leg, a classification of an impact on the leg from a set of classifications, wherein the set of classifications comprises a touchdown classification and a non-touchdown classification;
- determining, by the data processing hardware, using the joint dynamics data and the odometry data and based on the classification of the impact corresponding to the non-touchdown classification, that occurrence of the impact is based on a particular condition, wherein-based on the joint dynamics data and the odometry data are indicative of the particular condition;
- and
- instructing, by the data processing hardware, movement by the robot based on determining that the occurrence of the impact is based on the particular condition.
A robot comprising:
- two or more legs;
- and
- a control system in communication with the two or more legs, the control system comprising data processing hardware configured to:
- receive joint dynamics data associated with a leg of the two or more legs;
- receive odometry data indicative of a pose of the robot;
- determine, based on the joint dynamics data and an amount of completion of a swing phase of the leg, a classification of an impact on the leg from a set of classifications, wherein the set of classifications comprises a touchdown classification and a non-touchdown classification;
- determine, using the joint dynamics data and the odometry data and based on the classification of the impact corresponding to the non-touchdown classification, that occurrence of the impact is based on a particular condition, wherein the joint dynamics data and the odometry data are indicative of the particular condition;
- and
- instruct movement by the robot based on determining that the occurrence of the impact is based on the particular condition.
A method of footstep contact detection, the method comprising:
- receiving, at data processing hardware of a robot, joint dynamics data associated with a leg of the robot;
- receiving, at data processing hardware of the robot, odometry data indicative of a pose of the robot;
- determining, by the data processing hardware, based on the joint dynamics data and an amount of completion of a swing phase of the leg, that a classification of a first impact on the leg corresponds to a touchdown classification;
- determining, by the data processing hardware, that a classification of a second impact on the leg corresponds to a non-touchdown classification, wherein occurrence of the second impact is based on a particular condition, and wherein the joint dynamics data and the odometry data are indicative of the particular condition;
- and
- instructing, by the data processing hardware, movement by the robot based on one or more of determining the classification of the first impact or determining the classification of the second impact.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.