A Unified Optimization Framework and New Set of Performance Metrics for Robot Leg Design

This work presents a framework for the simultaneous optimization of motors, transmissions, and mechanisms of different joints of robotic legs with the goal of achieving an energy efficient, precisely controllable and stable locomotion in dynamic environments. This unified framework allowed us to introduce and formulate new performance metrics for the separate evaluation of the system's stabilizing ability during stance and swing. Moreover, through a case study, this design optimization framework was applied to an anthropomorphic robot leg model and the optimal actuation configurations for the leg were obtained. This case study also helped us investigate the relationships among our three objectives (energy efficiency, and stance and swing control). It was shown that while in some cases a clear trade-off exists, it is not always valid and as such, careful consideration of all three objectives is necessary.