A key ingredient in graceful walking is the smooth transfer of support from one leg to the other. Smooth transfer means that the leg is loaded over a period of time instead of instantaneously and that there is little vibration during loading. Dave Bailey built the GeekBot to study the transfer of support between the feet during dynamic walking.
The GeekBot consists of two curved feet, actuated ankles and hips, and a pelvis. The basic behavior is controlled rocking from one foot to the other. Contact forces with the ground are not used in state control. Rather, the curved feet allow the force control problem to be converted to an equivalent motion control problem.
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