CRII: RI: Energy Effective and Versatile Bipedal Robots Using Event-Based Switching Between Parameterized Steady-State Controllers

与人类不同的是，双足机器人要么节能，要么多功能，但两者不能同时兼顾。例如，本田ASIMO可以爬楼梯，绕过障碍物，但大约每小时需要充电一次。另一方面，受被动动力学启发的机器人使用少量的能量来移动，但被限制在单一的速度和步长。该项目开发了一种理论，通过使双足机器人能够在特定情况下做出明智的决策，从而填补了这一知识空白。例如，在崎岖的地形上，机器人可能不得不决定消耗更多的能量来最大化稳定性，而在平坦和规则的地形下，同一个机器人可以决定使用最节能的步态，而不需要注意稳定性。有必要发展一种理论，同时提高两足机器人的能效和多功能性。双足机器人的不稳定性，由于它们像倒立摆一样的性质，使这一挑战更加艰巨；因此，平衡和稳定的指标也需要同时得到满足。知识上的差距在于，目前尚不清楚如何使双足机器人满足所有这些性能指标，其中一些实际上可能是相互冲突的（例如，能源效率与稳定性的权衡）。

Bipedal robots, unlike humans, are either energy-effective or versatile but not both at the same time. For example, the Honda ASIMO can walk over stairs and navigate around obstacles but needs to be recharged about every hour or so. On the other hand, robots inspired by passive dynamics use trivial amounts of energy to move but are limited to a single speed and step length. This project develops a theory that fills this knowledge gap by enabling bipedal robots to make informed decisions about what strategy to follow given a particular circumstance. For example, on rough terrains, a robot may have to decide to expend more energy in order to maximize stability while, in cases where the terrain is flat and regular, the same robot can decide to use its most energy-efficient gait while paying little heed to stability.There is a need to develop a theory that would simultaneously enable improved performance metrics for the energy-efficiency and versatility of bipedal robots. The instability of bipedal robots, due to their inverted pendulum like nature, makes this challenge even greater; hence, metrics for balance and stability also need to be met simultaneously. The gap in knowledge is that, it is unclear how to enable bipedal robots to satisfy all these performance metrics, some of which can actually be conflicting (e.g., energy-efficiency trade-offs with stability).