Bio-robotic toe and foot and heel models of a biped robot for more natural walking

This paper proposes a novel toe & foot& heel models that can allow a humanoid robot to walk more naturally like a normal human. The mechanism for the toe & foot& heel motions for the humanoid consists of several toe platforms, a foot platform, a heel platform, corresponding limbs to the platforms, and the base, which is located at a humanoid shin. The suggested foot platform can generate pitch & roll motions at an ankle position of a humanoid robot using a 2-dof-driving parallel mechanism with two linear actuators fixed to the base. The toe and heel joint motions can be implemented by attaching 6-dof serial joints between the platform and the base, and by connecting the corresponding platform and the foot platform with a revolute joint. Thus, a new foot mechanism with more dexterous functions can adjust the biped robot walking motions during the stance phase of the walking. For evaluations of the suggested models, walking simulations of a humanoid robot are performed to show the naturalness of the suggested model.