Online gain switching algorithm for joint position control of a hydraulic humanoid robot

This paper proposes a gain switching algorithm for joint position control of a hydraulic humanoid robot. Accurate position control of the lower body is one of the basic requirements for robust balance and walking control. Joint position control is more difficult for hydraulic robots than it is for electric robots because of a slower actuator time constant and the back-drivability of hydraulic joints. Backdrivability causes external forces and torques to have a large effect on the position of the joints. External ground reaction forces therefore prevent a simple proportional-derivative (PD) controller from realizing accurate joint position control. We propose a state feedback controller for joint position control of the lower body, define three modes of state feedback gains, and switch the gains according to the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) using linear interpolation. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated with a dynamic simulation of a hydraulic humanoid.