Oren Laskin Introduction Humanoid bipedal walking has the prospect of being a very flexible framework for creating moving machines.
Most robots use wheels, treads, or large sets of legs to traverse their environments.
These methods of locomotion are often very well suited to particular terrains. Human-like walking does not have the specialized performance of these other forms of motion, but it is very general. A good biped provides a compromise between the complex terrain handling of a four or six-legged robot and the high speed of a wheeled vehicle on flat ground. The primary challenge in achieving this generality in bipedal walking is dynamics. To move quickly and to deal with complex terrain, it becomes important to work with dynamic stability.