Compliant Biped Walking on Uneven Terrain with Point Feet

In this paper, we aim to realize compliant biped walking on uneven terrain with point feet. A control system is designed for a 5-link planar biped walker. According to the role that each leg plays, the control system is decomposed into two parts: the swing leg control and the support leg control. The trajectory of the swing foot is generated in real-time to regulate the walking speed. By considering the reaction torque of the swing leg's hip joint as disturbance, a sliding model controller is implemented at the support leg's hip joint to control the torso's posture angle. In order to make sure the landing foot does not rebound after impact, the vertical contact force control is set as the internal loop of the hip's height control. In simulation, the control system is tested on a virtual 5-link planar biped walker in Matlab. Finally, stable biped walking is realized on uneven terrain with roughness up to 2cm.