On the controller implementation in the real underactuated walking robot model

The purpose of this paper is the experimental validation of the sensor fusion designed for the possible future use in the walking-like mechanical systems design. The validation is made using the actuated leg being the part of the four-link laboratory walking-like system and it is equipped with several sensors. The experiments aim to track the reference angular positions trajectory using the state feedback controller. The information needed by that feedback controller (angular positions, velocities and input currents of DC motors actuating rotary joints) is obtained from the sensors measurements. Two types of experiments are compared: (i) using these measurements directly; (ii) pre-processing them via the designed sensor fusion method. The fusion is based on the so-called low-level hybrid Extended Kalman Filter (HEKF) realization, which has the future potential to be implemented on the PCBs attached to the legs links only. Yet, the presented experimental results demonstrate the prevalence of the control using the fused data.