Biped gait generation based on parametric excitation by knee-joint actuation

Restoration of mechanical energy dissipating on impact at the ground is necessary for sustainable gait generation. Parametric excitation is one approach to restore the mechanical energy. Asano et al. (Parametric excitation mechanisms for dynamic bipedal walking, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (2005) pp. 611-617.) applied parametric excitation to a biped robot with telescopic-legs, in which up-and-down motion restores total mechanical energy like playing on the swing. In this paper, parametric excitation principle is applied to a kneed biped robot with only knee actuation and it is shown that the robot walks successively without hip actuation. We also examine influences of several parameters and reference trajectory on walking performance.