A Multibody Dynamics Approach to Limit Cycle Walking

Though significant efforts are made to develop mathematical models of the limit cycle walking (LCW), there is still a lack of a general and efficient framework to study the periodic solution and robustness of a complex model like human with knees, ankles and flat feet. In this study, a numerical framework of the LCW based on general multibody system dynamics is proposed, especially the impacts between the feet and the ground are modeled by Hunt-Crossley normal contact force and Coulomb friction force, and the modeling of the knee locking is presented as well. Moreover, event-based operating strategies are presented to deal with controls for the ground clearance and the knee locking. Importantly, a fast and efficient two-step algorithm is proposed to search for stable periodic gaits. Finally, maximum allowable disturbance is adopted as the index for stability analysis. All these features could be readily implemented in the framework. The presented solution is verified on a compass-like passive dynamic walking (PDW) walker with results in the literature. Based on this framework, a fairly complicated level-walking walkers with ankles and knees under control are analyzed and their periodic gaits are obtained, and surprisingly, double stable periodic gaits with, respectively, low speed and high speed are found.