System Design and Dynamic Walking of Humanoid Robot KHR-2

TLDR

KHR‑2 is a 41‑DOF humanoid robot capable of imitating various human‑like motions. This paper describes KHR‑2’s mechanical design, system integration, and dynamic walking. The system employs a distributed control architecture with servo‑motor sub‑controllers, force/torque and inertia sensors, CAN communication, Windows XP running RTX HAL, and online controllers that define walking patterns. Experimental results demonstrating KHR‑2’s dynamic walking are presented.

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the mechanical design, system integration and dynamic walking of the humanoid, KHR-2 (KAIST Humanoid Robot– 2). KHR-2 has 41 DOFs in total, that allows it to imitate various human-like motions. To control all joint axes effectively, the distributed control architecture is used, which reduces computation burden on the main controller, and allows convenient system. A servo motor controller was used as the sub-controller, whereas a 3-axis force/torque sensor and an inertia sensor were used in the sensory system. The main controller attached on the back of KHR-2 communicates with the sub-controllers in real-time through CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol. Windows XP was used as the operation system, whereas RTX HAL extension commercial software was used to realize the real-time control capability in Windows environment. We define the walking pattern and describe several online controllers in each stage. Some of the experimental results of KHR-2 are also presented.