Applied Mechanics to Legged Robots

Course at a Glance
The course aims at giving to the Ph.D. candidates’ theoretical and practical knowledge on modelling, design, and development of legged robots. Nowadays, biped, quadruped, hexapod or octopod robots are quickly becoming an important part of the mobile mechanisms. Moreover, robots have left the labs and they are entering in our human environments (e.g., ASIMO by HONDA, Atlas by Boston Dynamics, Walkman, HyQ, etc.), helping people, dealing with hazardous materials, exploring uneven terrain and dangerous environment. Bio-inspiration in robotics is a used approach to design animal-like and human-like robots. In this contest, legged locomotion is an important field which should be explored not only by control, but also by mechanical design point of view (e.g. using soft materials, flexible links, couple tolerances, joint inaccuracies, unconventional geometry, etc.). The objective of this course is to give theoretical and practical knowledge in order to be able to mechanical design basic legged robot prototypes.

Instructors
Ferdinando Cannella  ferdinando.cannella@iit.it
Giovanni Gerardo Muscolo

Credits: 5

Synopsis
This course presents an overview on legged robotics (in particular the 2-4 legs). Theoretical concepts and practical methods will be studied and implemented in virtual prototypes. The final goals of the course are twofold: 1) to give the basic notions on legged robotics from theoretical to practical point of view; 2) to merge the robotic knowledge in a virtual prototype. The course is divided in two parts of 8 and 7 hours oriented to validate the two goals described above. In the first part, real legged robots in commerce and literature will be studied in details with the final aims to underline critical points in mechanical design. In the second part, each Ph.D. candidate will propose a project with the final aim to realize a virtual prototype of a legged robot. The course comprises the use of CAD-CAE tools (PRO-Engineer) for geometric modelling and functional design and the selection of typical commercial mechanical components (actuators, gears, belts, brakes, joints, bearings).

Other tools for Multi-Body Simulation (MBS), Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and trajectory planning (e.g.: MSC.ADAMS, ANSYS, COMSOL, MATLAB/SIMULINK) will be used.

Tools used:

Hardware
- Robots available (to be confirmed by the Instructor).

Software
- MATLAB/SIMULINK; OPENSIM;
- PROENGINEER;
- MSC.ADAMS; COMSOL; ANSYS;

Syllabus
- Class 1 (C1):
o Overview on Humanoid Robotics;
o Applied Mechanics to Humanoid Robots;
- Class 2 (C2):
PhD Program in Bioengineering and Robotics – 2016-2017
o Theoretical Models of 2-4 Legged Locomotion;
o Design and Development of a 2-4 Legged Robot;
- Class 3 (C3):
o Intermediate Test (IT) and Personal Project of a Legged Robot (PPLR);
o Conceptual and Functional Design of the PPLR;
- Class 4 (C4):
o Modelling of the PPLR;
- Class 5 (C5):
o Simulation, Optimization, and Validation of the PPLR.

Final exam
There will be a final examination decided by the instructors. It will be related to the Intermediate Test (IT) and to the Personal Project of a Legged Robot (PPLR) performed by each Ph.D. Candidate.

Prerequisites
Basic Knowledge of Physics and Mathematics.

Reading List
- L. Sciavicco and B. Siciliano, Modelling and Control of Robot
Manipulators,Springer,London,UK,2ndedition,2000.
- Vukobratovi´c M. and Borovac B., 2004. Zero-moment point - thirty five years of its life, International Journal of Humanoid Robotics, 2004.
- B. Vanderborght, “Dynamic Stabilisation of the Biped Lucy Powered by Actuators with Controllable Stiffness”, Star, Springer tracts in advanced robotics, 63 (2010).
- McGeer T., 1990.Passive dynamic walking, International Journal of Robotics
Research, vol. V54 IS6, pp. 1–21.
- Raibert M., 2010. Dynamic legged robots for rough terrain, in 10th IEEE-RAS
International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids 2010), pp. 1–1, 2010.
- Kaneko K., Kanehiro F., Kajita S., Hirukawa H., Kawasaki T., Hirata M., Akachi K., and
Isozumi T., 2004. “Humanoid robot hrp-2,” Proceedings of IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2004), 2004.
- Collins S. H., Wisse M., and Ruina A., 2001. A three-dimensional passive-dynamic walking robot with two legs and knees, International Journal of Robotics Research
(IJRR), vol. 20(7), pp. 601–615, 2001.
- Muscolo G. G., Recchiuto C. T., Molfino R., 2015. Dynamic balance optimization in biped robots: Physical modeling, implementation and tests using an innovative formula. Robotica 2015, Vol. 33, n°10, pp. 2083-2099. Cambridge University Press.
- Muscolo G. G., Hashimoto K., Takanishi A., Dario P., 2013. A comparison between two force-position controllers with gravity compensation simulated on a humanoid arm, Journal of Robotics, Vol. 2013. 14 pages.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/256364. Hindawi Publishing Corporation.

Venue
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

Course dates
October-November 2017