Mechanical design and balance control of a Humanoid Waist Joint

Abstract

A waist joint is designed for a humanoid robot in this paper, which has the characteristics of a large range of motion and high mechanical strength. A new method of balance control based on waist joints is also provided. It can effectively increase the stability margin during single support phase. We have been developing BHR, which has 38 DOF (degree of freedom). Each arm of BHR has 11 DOF in total that amounts to 3 DOF/shoulder, 2 DOF/elbow, 5 DOF/hand and 1 DOF/wrist. Each leg constitutes 6 DOF. Head constitutes 2 DOF, and trunk has 2 DOF. Its waist joints are designed to produce both swing and rotation movements. The effectiveness of the method on balance control is conducted by simulation and walking experiments on BHR.