2021/01/26 by Julian Esser, Esser, Julian, Shivesh Kumar +13 · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Muscle Physiology and Disorders #Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics #Robotic Locomotion and Control #Robotics (cs.RO)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2101.10591
openalex publication_date 2021/01/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Last decades of humanoid research has shown that humanoids developed for high dynamic performance require a stiff structure and optimal distribution of mass--inertial properties. Humanoid robots built with a purely tree type architecture tend to be bulky and usually suffer from velocity and force/torque limitations. This paper presents a novel series-parallel hybrid humanoid called RH5 which is 2 m tall and weighs only 62.5 kg capable of performing heavy-duty dynamic tasks with 5 kg payloads in each hand. The analysis and control of this humanoid is performed with whole-body trajectory optimization technique based on differential dynamic programming (DDP). Additionally, we present an improved contact stability soft-constrained DDP algorithm which is able to generate physically consistent walking trajectories for the humanoid that can be tracked via a simple PD position control in a physics simulator. Finally, we showcase preliminary experimental results on the RH5 humanoid robot.