Design of a Momentum-Based Control Framework and Application to the Humanoid Robot Atlas

Abstract

This paper presents a momentum-based control framework for floating-base robots and its application to the humanoid robot “Atlas”. At the heart of the control framework lies a quadratic program that reconciles motion tasks expressed as constraints on the joint acceleration vector with the limitations due to unilateral ground contact and force-limited grasping. We elaborate on necessary adaptations required to move from simulation to real hardware and present results for walking across rough terrain, basic manipulation, and multi-contact balancing on sloped surfaces (the latter in simulation only). The presented control framework was used to secure second place in both the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials in December 2013 and the Finals in June 2015.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2016
Source ID
10.1142/s0219843616500079

Entities

People

  • Gray C. Thomas
  • Jerry Pratt
  • Jesper Smith
  • Johannes Englsberger
  • Sylvain Bertrand
  • Tingfan Wu
  • Tomas De Boer
  • Twan Koolen

Organizations

  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • University of Texas at Austin

Tags

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Educational Psychology
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Autonomous Systems
  • Autonomy