Humanoid robot having fall-management capabilities, and method for managing said falls

A method for managing the falls of a humanoid robot capable of moving on a surface and comprising a first sensing capability configured to detect a contact of at least one first extremity of the robot with said surface, said method comprising:

• computing the position of the point of projection of a center of mass of said robot with respect to a first support polygon comprising at least said at least one first extremity;
• determining a proximity of at least one second extremity of said robot with said surface;
• and
• determining a position of a projection of the center of mass of said robot with respect to a second support polygon, said second polygon being deduced from the first polygon by adding to the latter points of projection on said surface of said at least one second extremity of said robot belonging to a group of extremities of said robot detected at a height less than threshold h0 with said surface, the threshold h0 being higher than zero,
• wherein an output of the computing the proximity of at least one second extremity of said robot is used to trigger a fall detection if the projection of the center of mass does not fall within the first support polygon and does not fall within the second support polygon.

A robotic control system comprising at least one processor and a computer program comprising program code instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to execute a method for managing the falls of a humanoid robot capable of moving on a surface and comprising a first sensing capability configured to detect a contact of at least one first extremity of the robot with said surface, the method comprising:

• computing the position of the point of projection of a center of mass of said robot with respect to a first support polygon comprising at least said at least one first extremity;
• determining a proximity of at least one second extremity of said robot with said surface;
• and
• determining a position of a projection of the center of mass of said robot with respect to a second support polygon,
• wherein an output of the computing the proximity of at least one second extremity of said robot is used to trigger a fall detection if the projection of the center of mass does not fall within the first support polygon and does not fall within the second support polygon, and
• wherein said program code instructions being adapted for allowing the management of falls of the humanoid robot, said program code instructions comprising a first processing capability configured to compute the position of the point of projection of the center of mass of said robot with respect to the first support polygon, said program code instructions further comprising a second processing capability for detection data of the proximity of the at least one second extremity of said robot with said surface and a module for computing the position of projection of the center of mass of said robot with respect to said second support polygon, said second polygon being deduced from the first polygon by adding to the latter points of projection on said surface of said at least one second extremity of said robot belonging to a group of extremities of said robot detected at a height less than threshold h0 with said surface.