Controller design for a bipedal robot with variable stiffness actuators

This report describes the modeling and the design and implementation of a control architecture for a bipedal walking robot. This robot features variable stiffness actuators in the knees which make it possible to adjust the knee stiffness during walking. Previous research showed that using the leg stiffness as a control input, a robust and human-like walking gait can be achieved. The proposed controller tries to keep track of a defined walking pattern and furthermore uses the variable knee stiffness as a control input in order to achieve a desired leg stiffness. The controller is validated by both simulation and experimental results which show that a bipedal walking robot can maintain a certain gait by adjusting the leg stiffness.