Handling gait disturbances with asynchronous timing
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsKevin Blankespoor, Benjamin Stephens, Marco da Silva
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An example method may include i) detecting a disturbance to a gait of a robot, where the gait includes a swing state and a step down state, the swing state including a target swing trajectory for a foot of the robot, and where the target swing trajectory includes a beginning and an end; and ii) based on the detected disturbance, causing the foot of the robot to enter the step down state before the foot reaches the end of the target swing trajectory.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- causing, by a control system of a robot having a first leg connected to a first foot and a second leg connected to a second foot, the first foot to swing forward on a target swing trajectory;
- after causing the first foot to swing forward on the target swing trajectory, causing, by the control system, the first foot to begin to step down to a surface;
- after causing the first foot to begin to step down to the surface, detecting, by the control system, an indication that at least one joint of the first leg has reached a range of motion limit before the first foot has contacted the surface;
- and
- in response to detecting the indication that the at least one joint has reached the range of motion limit before the first foot has contacted the surface, causing, by the control system, the second leg to reduce a ground reaction force on the second foot in contact with the surface to lower the first foot to the surface.
A robot comprising:
- a first leg connected to a first foot;
- a second leg connected to a second foot;
- a processor;
- a non-transitory computer readable medium;
- and
- program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executed by the processor, cause the robot to perform functions comprising:
- causing the first foot to swing forward on a target swing trajectory;
- after causing the first foot to swing forward on the target swing trajectory, causing the first foot to begin to step down to a surface;
- after causing the first foot to begin to step down to the surface, detecting an indication that at least one joint of the first leg has reached a range of motion limit before the first foot has contacted the surface;
- and
- in response to detecting the indication that the at least one joint has reached the range of motion limit before the first foot has contacted the surface, causing the second leg to reduce a ground reaction force on the second foot in contact with the surface to lower the first foot to the surface.
A non-transitory computer readable media having instruction stored thereon that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
- causing a first foot of a robotic device to swing forward on a target swing trajectory, wherein the robotic device comprises a first leg connected to the first foot and a second leg connected to a second foot;
- after causing the first foot to swing forward on the target swing trajectory, causing the first foot to begin to step down to a surface;
- after causing the first foot to begin to step down to the surface, detecting an indication that at least one joint of the first leg has reached a range of motion limit before the first foot has contacted the surface;
- and
- in response to detecting the indication that the at least one joint has reached the range of motion limit before the first foot has contacted the surface, causing the second leg to reduce a ground reaction force on the second foot in contact with the surface to lower the first foot to the surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.