Towards smooth bipedal walking

In this paper we examine exchange-of-support for a simple planar bipedal robot. We derive a set of conditions which will ensure that the robot's body does not experience an instantaneous change in velocity at exchange-of-support. These conditions specify leg lengths and velocities which the robot must achieve for impactless walking. We propose to smooth the single-support phase through the use of appropriate leg length programs and examine one such program. Finally, we describe an experimental robot we constructed to facilitate the testing of these ideas, and present brief experimental results.>