ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to develop a mathematical model for the study of a walking gait of a biped satisfying Robot Hypotheses HR1-HR5, Gait Hypotheses HGW1–HGW7, and Impact Hypotheses HI1–HI7. The robots are assumed to consist of rigid links with mass, connected via rigid, frictionless, revolute joints to form a single open kinematic chain lying in a plane. The chapter introduces dynamic models for walking and running motions of planar bipedal robots with point feet. If one takes human walking as the defacto standard against which mechanical bipedal walking is to be compared, then the flat-footed walking achieved by current robots needs to be improved. In the passive bipedal robot literature, it is usually known as a compass model or a compass-gait biped. One could be concerned that “real robots have feet,” and thus, while the analysis of point-feet models may be of interest mathematically, it is “misguided for practical robotics.”.
