Shuffle Turn with Both Feet of Humanoid Robot by Controlling Load Distribution of Soles

This paper proposes a novel shuffle turning method for a humanoid robot by controlling load distribution of each sole. Conventionally, turning motion of a humanoid robot is performed by repeating of stepping the feet. However the motion is inefficient and time consuming. In our proposed methods, the feet are slipped on the floor without stepping. To minimize variation of the turning angle due to the friction variation of the floor, the directions of the feet are changed following a predetermined trajectory and the load distributions of the soles are controlled to be nonuniform. Experiments with the humanoid robot HOAP-2 were conducted to verify the validity of the proposed method.