Abstract:
Provided is a foot structure for a humanoid robot capable of effectively keeping its balance in a pause state or action. The foot structure includes a support; a plurality of lower structures having an upper member connected to a bottom of the support; a plurality of lower members having a plurality of independent portions each movably connected to the upper member; and a revolute joint for coupling the upper member and the lower member. Since a contact between the foot structure and the floor is smoothly made, a shock is prevented from being transferred to a body of the humanoid robot. Also, a vibration generated when the humanoid robot steps on the floor is eliminated, so that the humanoid robot can pose a stable and smooth gate.

Description:
Priority is claimed to Korean Patent Application No. 2004-7855, filed on Feb. 6, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a humanoid robot, and more particularly, to a foot structure for a humanoid robot capable of effectively keeping its balance in a pause state and/or action state. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   Robots are generally utilized for factory automation and play an important role in non-human environments. Recently, humanoid robot systems are being actively developed because robots capable of performing in a human environment such as offices, homes, or hospitals are desired. Accordingly, some humanoid robots have been developed. 
   One of most important conditions of a humanoid robot is to guarantee an effective interaction between a foot of the robot and the ground. If there is no effective interaction between the foot of the robot and the ground, a shock is generated when a heel of the robot&#39;s foot touches on the ground, and is then transferred to the robot&#39;s foot. Furthermore, the shock is transferred to the robot&#39;s body through an ankle joint. Due to such a shock, the dynamic equilibrium of the robot may be disturbed and an unstable gait of the robot may be caused. In addition, a vibration of the foot resulted from the shock is transferred to the body of the robot, thereby lowering a control stability of the robot. 
   Another problem resulted from the unstable interaction between the robot&#39;s foot and the ground occurs when the robot passes an area where small obstacles exist on the ground or a surface of the ground is not flat, even though the robot may use a vision system for assessing the surroundings. In this case, the robot&#39;s foot does not adequately step on the ground, which deteriorates the stability and spontaneity of the gait of the robot. 
   In order to solve the above problems, several robot&#39;s foot mechanisms capable of absorbing a shock during walking have been proposed. Among them are the foot structures disclosed in the article “The development of Honda humanoid robot” by K. Hirai et al., Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics &amp; Automation, Leuven, Belgium, May 1998, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,014, “Legged walking robot” issued to Gomi et al., on Jun. 23, 2002. 
     FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view illustrating a structure of a conventional robot foot disclosed by K. Hirai et al. 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , a foot  10  includes a sole  14  made of rubber and a bushing  12  having a guide shape and made of rubber, thereby constructing a mechanism capable of absorbing a shock. The foot  10  of the robot is elastically deformed in a vertical direction by a ground force applied from the sole  14 . With the above construction, the transfer of an impact load is reduced, since the foot serves mechanically as a low-pass filter to prevent the vibration of a leg so that the leg can be smoothly controlled. 
   However, the foot  10  does not provide a stable walking mechanism. For this, the rubber used for the sole  14  and the bushing  12  has to have high elasticity in order to secure the stability of the upper portion of the robot relative to the sole  14  so that a tight contact between the sole  14  and the ground can be achieved. 
   Consequently, the total stiffness of the foot is increased and becomes approximately a constant regardless of a value of the ground force. Therefore, this type of shock-absorbing apparatus has a disadvantage in that it cannot effectively attenuate the vibration generated after a shock is applied to the heel of the robot. 
   In order to overcome the above problem, U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,014 teaches a robot foot having a sole consisting of a first elastic portion and a second elastic portion, and the second elastic portion having a heel portion consisting of a flat central portion of a relatively thin thickness and a plurality of projections of a relatively thick thickness which are spaced apart from each other at regular intervals. 
   Meanwhile, a structure of a humanoid robot employing a six-axis force sensor that makes the robot walk stably on a rough and flat terrain is disclosed in the article “Design of advanced leg module for humanoid robotics project of METI,” by Kenji Kaneko et al., Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics &amp; Automation, Washington, D.C., May 2002. 
     FIG. 2  is an explanatory view depicting a foot structure of the conventional robot of using a six-axis force sensor. 
   As shown in  FIG. 2 , a foot  20  of the robot includes a six-axis force sensor  22 , a plurality of rubber bushes  24 , and a sole plate  26 . It is very important to control a torque of the sole in order to make the robot walk stably on rough terrain. Since the plurality of bushes  24  serve as a compliance element with a roll axis and a pitch axis, the rotational deformation of the plurality of bushes  24  is controlled by the 6-axis force sensor  22 , thereby controlling the torque applied to the sole of the robot. 
   In addition, WAF-2 (Waseda Anthropomorphic Foot No. 2), an advanced foot structure for a humanoid robot, and a controlling system for the WAF-2 are disclosed in the article “Experimental development of a foot mechanism with shock absorbing material for acquisition of landing surface position information and stabilization of dynamic biped walking,” by Jinichi Yamaguchi et al., IEEE International Conference on Robotics &amp; Automation, pp 2892-2899 (1995). 
     FIG. 3A  is a view depicting a structure  30  of WAF-2. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3A , the WAF-2 structure  30  includes an upper foot plate  40 , four potentiometers  36  placed on the upper foot plate  40 , four wires  38  penetrating the upper foot plate  40 , a plurality of upper stoppers  50  placed under the upper foot plate  40 , a shock-absorbing member  44  positioned under the upper foot plate  40 , a first acrylic plate  42  positioned between the upper foot plate  40  and the shock-absorbing member  44 , a lower foot plate  62 , a second acrylic plate  46  placed between the lower foot plate  62  and the shock-absorbing member  44 , a plurality of lower stoppers  60  placed on the lower foot plate  62 , and a plurality of spikes  64  formed under the lower foot plate  62 . 
     FIG. 3B  is a perspective view depicting one of the plurality of upper stoppers  50  placed under the upper foot plate  40  in  FIG. 3A . 
   As shown in  FIG. 3B , the upper stopper  50  consists of a duralumin  52 , a urethane rubber  54 , a Teflon resin  56 , and a silicon foam  58 . 
   As shown in  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the WAF-2 structure  30  has a passive shock-absorbing mechanism achieved by the shock-absorbing member  44  placed between the upper foot plate  40  and the lower foot plate  62  and the plurality of upper stoppers  50  placed under the upper foot plate  40 . In the case of a ground force having a nonlinear characteristic where the foot stiffness is gently increases with the ground force, such a structure can provide a shock-absorbing mechanism. In addition, this structure provides a stabilizing function by the upper stoppers  50  and the lower stoppers  60  placed on the spikes  64 , and the upper foot plate  40  and the lower foot plate  62 , respectively. 
   A two-legged robot using this structure can easily operate on a surface having variations of a few millimeters in a vertical or horizontal direction or at an inclination angle of about 1°. 
   However, the humanoid robots employing the WAF-2 or WAF-3 structure have several drawbacks. 
   The humanoid robot has a nonlinear stiffness characteristic similar to a human being only at a nominal load corresponding to a robot having a weight of about 110 kg and within a range of 6 mm. In other words, the maximum stiffness of the foot is equal to 91.7 N/mm under a restricted condition. If the maximum ground force is above the value, the upper foot plate is completely contacted with the lower foot plate. Thus, an average stiffness of the foot is determined by a metal portion having high stiffness and low damping. 
   In addition, since the WAF-2 or WAF-3 structure utilizes a shock-absorbing material, such as a yellow memory foam M-36, the elastic characteristic varies. A heater is mounted in the foot structure to maintain the temperature in about 40° C., so as to prevent variations of the elastic characteristic. Thus, the foot structure is heavy and very complicated. 
   Finally, since the WAF-2 or WAF-3 structure has no toe joints, the robot cannot secure a tight contact between the ground and the foot in a push-off motion during walking. Therefore, the robot cannot secure a sufficient propelling force required for quick walk, run, carrying a load, or the like. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides a foot structure for a robot capable of providing a stable and smooth gait and a robot employing the foot structure. 
   Also, the present invention provides a foot structure for a robot capable of effectively absorbing a shock and assuring a stable robot posture when a load is lifted from the floor. 
   According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a foot structure for a robot, the foot structure comprising: a support for mounting an ankle joint of the robot; and a plurality of lower structures connected to a bottom portion of the support for absorbing a shock and stabilizing a gait of the robot. 
   According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a robot including at least one body and a plurality of legs, each leg using a foot structure comprising: a support for mounting an ankle joint of the robot; and a plurality of lower structures connected to a bottom portion of the support for absorbing a shock and stabilizing a gait of the robot, each the lower structure including an upper member connected to the bottom portion of the support; a plurality of lower members having a plurality of independent portions each movably connected to an upper member; and a revolute joint for coupling the upper member and the lower member. 
   According to another aspect of the present invention, in order to effectively absorb a shock and provide a stable robot posture when a load is lifted from the floor, there is provided a robot structure comprising an upper member to hold the load, a plurality of independent portions, a lower member having a plurality of linear springs for movably coupling the independent portions to each other, and a revolute joint for coupling the upper member to the lower member. 
   The robot of the present invention has a stiffness characteristic identical to that of a human being. Particularly, the robot has a constant stiffness, when receiving an impact load, a stable standing posture, and a smooth contact between a heel and ground. 
   Since the robot includes a shock-absorbing and stabilizing mechanism (SASM) capable of providing an additional rotational DOF and translational DOF, the foot structure can properly contact the floor when the robot performs various human-like motions. Consequently, the robot has a stability even on an uneven floor or a floor with small obstacles thereon. 
   Also, since the foot structure of the present invention includes a quasi-toe joint, a foot&#39;s sole can properly contact the floor while pushing off the floor. 
   In addition, since the foot structure of the present invention employs a shock-absorbing material to absorb a soft shock very well, after the foot structure steps on the floor, a high frequency vibration of the foot structure in a high frequency band is reduced. 
   Furthermore, because of the interaction between the foot structure and the floor to smoothly absorb the impact therebetween, the impact is not transferred to a body of the robot, and the vibration generated when the foot structure contacts the floor is attenuated, thereby stabilizing a gait of the robot. 
   Finally, in the case where the robot walks on an uneven floor or a floor with small obstacles, the foot structure is less sensitive to irregularities of the floor, and thus the control of the robot could be simplified to stabilize a gait of the robot. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view illustrating a structure of a conventional robot foot; 
       FIG. 2  is a view depicting a conventional robot foot structure using a six-axis force sensor; 
       FIG. 3A  is a view depicting the WAF-2 structure; 
       FIG. 3B  is a perspective view depicting one of a plurality of upper stoppers formed under an upper foot plate in  FIG. 3A ; 
       FIG. 4  is a view depicting a humanoid robot employing a foot structure according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5A  is a perspective view depicting the foot structure of  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG. 5B  is a side view of the foot structure according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5C  is a perspective view depicting a force applied to a carrier plate when the foot structure in  FIG. 5A  touches the ground; 
       FIG. 6A  is a perspective view depicting a shock-absorbing and stabilizing mechanism (SASM) of the foot structure in  FIG. 5A ; 
       FIG. 6B  is a cross-sectional view depicting the SASM of the foot structure in  FIG. 5A ; 
       FIG. 6C  is a plan view depicting the SASM of the foot structure in  FIG. 5A ; 
       FIG. 7  is a view depicting a SASM model obtained by using ADAMS (commercially available code from MSC Software Corporation) where an upper member is separated from a lower member in the SASM; 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view depicting the lower member of the SASM in  FIGS. 6A through 6C ; 
       FIG. 9  is an exploded perspective view of a model of the upper member of the SASM in  FIGS. 6A through 6C  obtained by using ADAMS (commercially available from MSC. Software Corporation); 
       FIG. 10  is a view obtained by using ANYSYS 6.0 (commercially available from ANYSYS Inc.) for explaining how to calculate a stiffness of the disc spring in  FIG. 9 ; 
       FIG. 11  is a graph depicting a stiffness curve of the disk spring in  FIG. 9  obtained on the assumption that the disk spring operates within a displacement range of 3 mm; 
       FIG. 12  is a graph depicting a stiffness curve of the SASM within the overall displacement range; 
       FIG. 13  is a view depicting landing the foot structure according to the embodiment of the present invention on uneven ground; 
       FIG. 14  is a graph of a force applied to an upper center portion of a carrier plate in the foot structure of  FIG. 13  versus time; 
       FIG. 15  is a graph of a vertical displacement of an upper member of the foot structure versus time; and 
       FIG. 16  is a graph of a contact force between a lower surface of a heel of the foot structure of  FIG. 13  and the uneven ground versus time. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Reference will now be made in detail to a foot structure for a humanoid robot according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings, like parts are indicated by the same reference numerals. 
     FIG. 4  is a view depicting a humanoid robot employing a foot structure  100  according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
   The humanoid robot  100  includes two legs  102  and  103  and a waist  104 . 
   Each of the legs  102  and  103  includes thighs  105  and  106 , shins  107  and  108 , and foot structures  109  and  110 , respectively. The legs  102  and  103  and foot structures  109  and  110  are identical to each other and are symmetrically displaced. Accordingly, only the foot structure  110  of the leg  103  will now be described in detail. 
     FIG. 5A  and  FIG. 5B  are respectively a perspective view and a cross-sectional view depicting the foot structure. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 5A and 5B , the foot structure  110  includes a carrier plate  111  for mounting a 6-axis force sensor and an ankle joint of the humanoid robot  100 , and four shock-absorbing and stabilizing mechanisms (SASMs)  112   a  through  112   d  installed under the carrier plate  111 . 
   According to an embodiment of the present invention, the foot structure  110  has the dimensions of 235×150×50 mm, and each SASM  112   a  through  112   d  has the dimensions of 60×60×50 mm. 
   According to an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier plate  111  may be made of an aluminum alloy, a material identical to that used to make the general structure of the humanoid robot  100 , or other suitable material. 
     FIG. 5C  is a perspective view depicting a force applied to the carrier plate  111  when the foot structure in  FIG. 5A  completely touches the ground. 
   As shown in  FIG. 5C , a nominal force F applied to the carrier plate  111  when the humanoid robot  100  stands on a floor  112   f  is half the weight of the humanoid robot  100 . 
     FIGS. 6A ,  6 B, and  6 C are a perspective view, a cross-sectional view and a plan view depicting the SASM  112  of the foot structure in  FIG. 5A , respectively. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 6A through 6C , the SASM  112   a  includes an upper member  113 , a lower member  114 , and a spherical joint  115 . In addition, the lower member  114  includes a lower cover  116 , a plurality of linear springs  117   a  through  117   e , a metal member consisting of a plurality of metal portions  125   a  through  125   e , and a plurality of rubber portions  126   a  through  126   e.    
     FIG. 7  is a view depicting a case where the upper member  113  is separated from the lower member  114  in the SASM  112   a.    
     FIG. 8  is a perspective view depicting the lower member  114  of the SASM  112   a  in  FIGS. 6A through 6C . 
   As shown in  FIG. 8 , the lower member  114  includes the lower cover  116 , five independent portions  118  and  119   a  through  119   d , and the plurality of linear springs  117   a  through  117   e . The independent portions  118  and  119   a  through  119   d  respectively have the metal portions  125   a  to  125   e  and the rubber portions  126   a  to  126   e . In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in order to enable translational motion along a vertical axis within a desired range, the independent portions  118  and  119   a  through  119   d  are connected to each other by the linear springs  117   a  to  117   e.    
   According to an embodiment of the present invention, all of the metal portions  125   a  through  125   e  moving relative to and contacting the ground surface are adhered to the rubber portions  126   a  through  126   e  made of thermoplastic rubber. The spherical joint  115  is fixed to a cover by a screw (not shown). 
   According to an embodiment of the present invention, the independent portions  118  and  119   a  through  119   d  have a height of 10 mm. That is, the rubber portions  126   a  through  126   e  have a height of 5 mm, and the metal portions  125   a  through  125   e  made of aluminum alloy have a height of 5 mm. A moving range of the independent portion  118  is 5 mm, and a moving range of the remaining independent portions  119   a  to  199   d  is 10 mm. 
     FIG. 9  is an exploded perspective view of a model of the upper member  113  of the SASM  112   a  in  FIGS. 6A through 6C  obtained by using ADAMS (commercially available from MSC. Software Corporation). 
   As shown in  FIG. 9 , the upper member  113  includes a body  120 , an upper cover  121 , and a disk spring  122 . The disk spring  122  made of titanium is placed inside the body  120  to contact the spherical joint  115 . The upper cover  121  is secured to the body  120  by a screw (not shown). In addition, the spherical joint  115  includes a plurality of rotational springs  123   a  through  123   d  and is engaged with an internal surface of the body  120 . 
   According to an embodiment of the present invention, the disk spring  122  has an outer diameter of about 60 mm and an inner diameter of about 14 mm, the spherical joint  115  has a radius of 10 mm, the lower portion of the body  120  is formed with a hole having a radius smaller than the radius of the spherical joint  115 , and the radius of the hole is preferably about 7 mm. 
   A space formed in the body  120  between the upper portion of the body  120  and the lower portion of the disk spring  122  is filled with a soft foam having a high damping value and a small elasticity coefficient as compared to the disk spring stiffness. 
   An operating principle of the foot structure  109  according to the embodiment of the present invention will now be described. 
   First, the foot structure  110  has 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) and 32 passive rigid-body DOF, since the foot structure  110  has four SASMs  112   a  through  112   d  and each of the SASMs  112   a  through  112   d  has 8 DOF (5 DOF due to five linear springs and 3 DOF due to the spherical joint). 
   In addition, the foot structure  110  has a nonlinear stiffness characteristic similar to a human foot due to the plurality of SASMs  112   a  through  112   d  installed under the carrier plate  111 . 
   An operating principle of one of the SASMs  112   a  through  112   d  is as follows. 
   First, the spherical joint  115  fixed on the lower cover  116  contacts the disk spring  122  to provide a passive rotation DOF between the upper and lower members  113  and  114 . In addition, in order to stabilize the lower member  114  in an equilibrium state, four rotational springs are provided between the spherical joint  115  and an inner surface of the upper cover  121 . Such a passive rotation DOF allows the foot of the humanoid robot  100  to smoothly contact the floor. Also, the humanoid robot  100  is less sensitive to an irregular floor. Furthermore, the contact between the foot&#39;s sole and the ground is more effective when the foot&#39;s sole is pushed against the ground. 
   Second, a passive translation DOF between the upper and lower members  113  and  114  is provided by the five independently movable portions  118  and  119   a  through  119   d  that contact the inner surface of the lower cover  116  by the linear springs  117   a  through  117   e . In addition, in order to achieve an effective contact between the foot&#39;s sole and the floor, the five independently movable portions  118  and  119   a  through  119   d  are covered by a layer made of rubber  126   a  through  126   e . Accordingly, the independent movable portions  118  and  119   a  through  119   d  movable independently can independently move with respect to each other. 
   Third, the stiffness of the linear springs  117   a  through  117   e  is calculated by the following method. 
   Supposing that a total weight of the humanoid robot  100  is Q=1000 N, the nominal force applied to each SASM is P=125 N (=1000 N/8). As such, the force applied to each central portions of the carrier plate  111  is equal to Q/2. In this case, the lower cover  116  of the SASM completely contacts the inner surfaces of the central independent portion  118 . Accordingly, assuming that nominal displacements of the independent movable portions are equal to d=5 mm, the stiffness (Clin) of the linear springs is 5 N/mm (=P/d/5), and the stiffness (Clower) of the lower member  114  of the SASM is 25 N/mm (=5Clin). 
     FIG. 10  a view for explaining how to calculate the stiffness of the disc spring  122  in  FIG. 9 . 
   In  FIG. 10 , a non-linear finite element analysis is implemented by using ANYSYS 6.0 (commercially available from ANYSYS Inc.), to calculate the stiffness (Cdisk) of the disk spring  122 . 
   Supposing that the disk spring  122  operates in a displacement range of 0-3 mm, a stiffness curve of the disk spring  122  is indicated in  FIG. 11 . In result, the higher impact forces are taken by the much stiffer titanium disk spring  122 , stiffness curve of which was calculated from the finite element solution and is pictured here. 
     FIG. 12  is a graph of a stiffness curve of the SASM within the overall displacement range, in which the x-axis indicates a displacement, and the y-axis indicates the stiffness. 
   The graph in  FIG. 12  is obtained using the following equations. 
   
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     
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   wherein, C eqv (d) indicates the total stiffness, C lower  indicates a stiffness of the lower member  114 , C disk (d) indicates a stiffness of the disk spring  122 , and D nom  indicates a nominal displacement. Equation 1 and equation 2 are respectively applied in cases where the nominal displacement is larger than 5 mm and smaller than 5 mm. 
   Although the foot structure  110  of the humanoid robot  100  includes four SASMs, each of which includes five independent portions, it is possible to provide more or less SASMs. 
   In addition, although the carrier plate  111  has a concave shape and each of the SASMs is constructed in such a way that the entire independent portions contacting the bottom portion has a rectangular shape, carrier plate  111  and the independent portions may have other shapes. 
     FIG. 13  is a view depicting landing the foot structure  110  on uneven ground. 
     FIG. 14  is a graph of an applied force to an upper center portion of the carrier plate  111  in the foot structure  10  of  FIG. 13  versus time.  FIG. 14  shows that an initial vertical speed of the foot structure  110  is 100 mm/s. 
     FIG. 15  is a graph of a vertical displacement of the upper member  113  of the foot structure  110  of  FIG. 13  versus time. 
   Referring to  FIG. 15 , a solid line indicates a vertical displacement of a toe, a dotted line indicates a vertical displacement of an ankle joint, and a one-dotted line indicates a vertical displacement of the heel of the foot structure  110 . 
     FIG. 16  is a graph of a contact force between a lower surface of the heel of the foot structure  110  of  FIG. 13  and the uneven floor versus time. 
   While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments depicted in the drawings, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the true spirit and scope for protection of the present invention will be defined by the following claims.