Frontal Plane Motion with Pelvis and Waist Joint Rotations in Bipedal Walking

Although the progress in bipedal walking is impressive in recent years, biped robots still require very high torque and can walk only for a short time interval with their internal batteries. Therefore, further research needs to be carried out to enhance walking efficiency of these robots. In order to achieve this goal, we attempt to imitate human walking with pelvis and waist joint rotations in the frontal plane. In order to investigate the effect of the pelvis and waist joint rotations in the frontal plane motion, we study the frontal plane model with a triangular structure made up of a waist joint and two hip joints. Through simulation, we show that the pelvis rotation can reduce the maximum torque and the control effort, and the waist joint rotation can reduce the trunk sway caused by the pelvis rotation. The combination of these two rotations makes the bipedal walking in the frontal plane more efficient.