Design of a 23-DOF Small Humanoid Robot

with ZMP Force Sensors

Awais Yasin1,2, Qian Xu1,2, Bo Chen1,2, Qiushi Lu1,2, and M. Waqas Khan1
1
Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Robots and Systems, Beijing Institute of Technology,
Ministry of Education, P.R. China
2
Intelligent Robotics Institute, School of Mechatronics Engineering, Beijing Institute of
Technology, 5 Nandajie, Zhongguancun, Haidian, Beijing, 100081, P.R. China
awaisfrombit@gmail.com, juvcry@bit.edu.cn,
{chenboiisi,qiushi.lu1986,wak.yousafzai}@gmail.com

Abstract. This paper presents a design of a 23-DOF small humanoid robot with
force sensors for zero moment point (ZMP) measurement. Piezoresistive strain
gauges are used under the feet of the robot to measure ground reaction force
which is used to locate ZMP under the robot foot support area. The robot also
uses gyroscope and acceleration sensor for motion control.The robot developed
is capable of all directional walking, running and performing different kung fu
like actions.Design specifications, joints distribution, walking planning of the
robot, ZMP measurement scheme and vibration control using gyro sensor are
discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Humanoid Robot, Biped, ZMP, Walking Planning, Force sensor.

1 Introduction

There exist a number of approaches to biped locomotion. Among the most successful
ones are trajectory tracking methods that are based on pre-computed trajectories of
the legs or the Zero Moment Point (ZMP). The ZMP is the point on the ground where
the total moment generated due to gravity and inertia equals zero [1-4]. On flat
horizontal surfaces it is equal to the center of pressure and can be imagined as the
point on the ground about which the robot tilts. If the ZMP remains in the convex hull
of the support polygon, the gait of the robot is considered dynamically stable, i.e. the
robot does not fall. ZMP may be computed using model of the robot and information
from the joint encoders or by directly using data from sensors mounted under the feet
of the robot. Our robot also uses ZMP approach for stable walking and force sensors
are used under feet of the robot for ZMP measurement.
The following section gives a brief description of mechanical and electronic design
specifications [Table1, Fig (1-3)]. Section three discusses joint distribution and
rotation range etc and section four explains gait planning. ZMP measurement and
vibration control are discussed in section five and six respectively.

H. Tan (Ed.): Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics, LNEE 132, pp. 31–38.
springerlink.com © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
32 A. Yasin et al.

2 Design Specifications
Our robot is a small kid-size robot with height, width and weight as mentioned in
table 1 below. A robot with these dimensions can also participate in “RoboCup”
which is a worldwide soccer competition of robots. The goal of RoboCup is to

Table 1. Design Specifications

Height 55 [cm]
Width 23 [cm]
Weight 3.8 [kg]
DOF (Degree of Freedom) 23
Frame Aluminum
Actuator Servo Motor RX-64, RX-28
Controller ARM9 S3C2440, 400MHz
Sensors Piezoresistive Strain Gauge
Gyro Sensor (SSSJ CRS03-04)
Accelerometer (Crossbow CXL04LP3)
Battery Li-Po 7.4 V x 2 2100Amh 20C/40C

Fig. 1. 3-D View of Robot Fig. 2. Size of Robot

Autonomous
Controller (PC)

Gyro Sensor AD RS232 Servo Motor

Rx-64
Motion Controller
Acceleration S3C2440
Sensor Servo Motor
RS485 Rx-28

Ground Reaction Force

Sensory System

Fig. 3. System Configuration

 Design of a 23-DOF Small Humanoid Robot with ZMP Force Sensors 33

develop humanoid robots which can win a soccer game against the world cup
champion team of human until the year 2050 [7].

3 23 Joints Distribution
The robot is designed to mimic human characteristics as closely as possible especially
in relation to basic physical structure through the design and configuration of joints
and links. The robot has a total of 23 DOFs: six for each leg, four for each arm, one
for the waist and two for the head. The high number of DOFs provides our robot with
the possibility of realizing complex motions. The comparison of joint distribution in
humans and this small humanoid robot is as in table 2.

Table 2. Comparison of Joint Distribution in Humans and Humanoid Robot

Joint Number of DOFs Right / Left (Rotation Axis)

Human Humanoid Robot
Neck 3 (yaw, pitch, roll) 2 (yaw, pitch)
Right/ Left Shoulder 3 (yaw, pitch, roll) 2 (pitch, roll)
Right / Left Elbow 2 (yaw, pitch) 2 (yaw, pitch)
Right / Left Wrist 3 (yaw, pitch, roll) 0
Waist 3 (yaw, pitch, roll) 1 (pitch)
Right / Left Hip 3 (yaw, pitch, roll) 3 (yaw, pitch, roll)
Right / Left Knee 1 (pitch) 1 (pitch)
Right / Left Ankle 3 (yaw, pitch, roll) 2 (pitch, roll)

Denotes Rotation about X-axis (Pitch)

Denotes Rotation about Y-axis (Roll)
Denotes Rotation about Z-axis (Yaw)

Fig. 4. Local axis Orientation

34 A. Yasin et al.

Joint rotation angles are decided from consideration of elements such as correlation
with human joint rotation angles and position of body parts and body structure design.
These elements lead to mobility and flexibility of humanoid manipulators to attain
trajectory, as well as to avoid collision problems. Joint rotation range of our 23 DOF
humanoid robot is as in table 3.

Table 3. Joint Rotation Range

Joint Joint Rotation Range

Neck (pitch) -45 ~ +45
Neck(yaw) -90 ~ +90
Shoulder (pitch) right & left 0 ~ +180
Shoulder (roll) right & left -90 ~ +90
Elbow (yaw) right & left -90 ~ +90
Elbow (pitch) right & left 0 ~ +100
Waist (yaw) -90 ~ 0
Hip (yaw) right & left -45 ~ +45
Hip (pitch) right & left -20 ~ +60
Hip (role) right & left -40 ~ +10
Knee (pitch) right & left -70 ~ 0
Ankle (pitch) right & left -30 ~ +50
Ankle (Roll) right & left -30 ~ +30

4 Gait Planning
Normalized trajectory table for each of direction X, Y, Z, and θ is used to make gait
[8]. The trajectory of right and left center of gravity movement calculated by the
expression (1) and (2) satisfy the reference ZMP.

x foot (t ) = C1 ⋅ exp (K ⋅ t ) + C 2 ⋅ exp (− K ⋅ t ) + x ZMP

max
(1)

− xZMP
max
C1 = C2 =
exp(K ⋅ K T ) + exp(− K ⋅ K T )
(2)

H T
Where K= and KT =
g 4
The trajectory table of X is a straight line and is given by expression (3) which is
same as for rotation of yaw axis θ.

(3)
 Design of a 23-DOF Small Humanoid Robot with ZMP Force Sensors 35

And for up and down z, we have (4) and (5) below

arcsin(1 − n )
zup ( n) = 1 − SIZE (4)
π
2

arcsin( n )
zdn ( n) = 1 − SIZE (5)
π
2

5 ZMP Measurement
Piezoresistive strain gauge is used as force sensor for ZMP measurement (Fig 6&7).
Four sensors housed in a special assembly are mounted on four corners of both feet
(Fig 8). A dedicated controller with data acquisition system is also mounted on each
foot. The signals measured are first passed through a low pass filter and then digitized
using built in A/D converter of C8051 microcontroller used (Fig 7).

Data Acquisition and ZMP

Piezoresistive Calculation
Strain guage1
C8051F320
Piezoresistive
Strain guage2
Filter Calculate
Circuit A/D ZMP RS485 Motion
Piezoresistive
Strain guage3 Control
Card
Piezoresistive
Strain guage4

Foot Assembly

Fig. 5. Block Diagram of ZMP sensory system

The single foot support phase ZMP coordinates in the local foot coordinate frame
are then computed by expression (6) and (7) below. The calculated position of ZMP is
then sent to the main motion control card.
N

 p ix f iz
x zmp = i =1
N
(6)
i =1
f iz
36 A. Yasin et al.

p iy f iz
y zmp = i =1
N
(7)
 i =1
f iz

Sensor Elastomer

Controller

Cushion
Foot bottom

Fig. 6. Foot Assembly Fig. 7. Foot base with Controller

p1
p2
f z1
Pa f z2

X
p3
f z3 O
p4
f z4

Fig. 8. Sensor’s position under feet

6 Vibration Control
A gyroscope is mounted in the trunk of the robot to get the information about the
angular velocity of the robot in the sagittal plane. If the angular velocity becomes too
large, the robot is likely to lose balance. The idea of the gyro feedback controller is to
modify the foot angle in sagittal direction in order to induce torque in the opposite
direction to the possible fall.
A proportional controller (P-controller) is used to do so, according to the angular
velocity ω of the rotation of pitch axis (sagittal direction). A P-controller is a
control loop feedback mechanism that tries to correct the error between a measured
process variable (e.g. the angular velocity of the robot’s trunk) and a desired set point
(e.g. zero angular velocity). To correct the error, a corrective action (e.g. foot angle
 Design of a 23-DOF Small Humanoid Robot with ZMP Force Sensors 37

regulation) is calculated in order to minimize the error. The P-controller calculation

involves only one parameter: the proportional gain that is denoted here as Kp, that
determines the absolute value of the reaction to the current error (e.g. absolute change
of the foot angle).
The gyroscope P-controller is then defined as (8)

θ FootGyro = θ Foot − K pω (8)

Where θ FootGyro ： Angle of joint (before control)

θ Foot ： Angle of joint (after control)

Experiments. Walking experiments are performed on our own developed 23 DOF

small humanoid robot (Fig 9). The robot can walk in all directions and run with a
maximum speed of 1km/hr. The robot is also capable of performing a number of kung
fu like actions.
Fig 9 below shows images of basic stepping of the robot.

a. First Step b. Second Step c. Third Step

d. Fourth Step e. Fifth Step f. Last Step

Fig. 9. Experiment results of walking

Conclusions. Complete hardware design and gait planning of a 23 DOF humanoid

robot is presented in this paper. ZMP calculation using piezoresistive strain gauge is
proved to be a simple and one of the direct methods of biped gait control.
38 A. Yasin et al.

Acknowledgment. This work was supported by the National Technology Research

and Development, China (863 Project) under Grant 2007AA041603, National Natural
Science Foundation of China under Grant 60874048, National Science Foundation for
Distinguished Young Scholar under Grant 60925014, and “111 Project” under Grant
B08043.

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