Hydraulic Robotic Leg for HYDROïD Robot: Modeling and Control

This paper presents a new hydraulic robotic leg for the humanoid hydraulic robot HYDROïD. The main parts of this leg are divided into two main parts; the knee subsystem and the ankle subsystem. The presented leg mechanism consists of 4 DOFs, all of which are operated using highly dynamic servo valves. The design of the leg is thoroughly presented and all of its parts are demonstrated. Moreover, the inverse kinematics for both sub-mechanisms are presented to be able to control the angular position of the leg joints. Also, a virtual dynamic model is introduced in which a position controller is applied to the model to regulate the actuating pistons, check the new structure, and analyze the position of the joints and their torques. To test the new leg experimentally, the new leg is assembled with the rest of the robot, and rapid prototyping software is used with a position controller. Experimental position tracking responses are introduced showing the validity of the new design and the implemented controller.