Balance maintenance of the Synthetic-Wheel Biped in the presence of impulsive disturbances

Abstract

A recent addition to the biped literature is the Synthetic-Wheel Biped. This platform has arc-shaped feet and is prone to rolling on its feet when disturbed. A disturbance rejection algorithm is proposed for the Synthetic-Wheel Biped such that it can stop moving and regain its upright posture. The algorithm imposes a symmetric gait and uses impulsive control inputs to keep the states of the system bounded and reject the effect of the disturbance. It is assumed that the external disturbances are applied when the biped is in its upright posture and the disturbances are modeled by initial velocity conditions. The biped takes a few steps to recover its upright configuration. Numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in rejecting the external disturbances applied on the Synthetic-Wheel Biped.