VIBRATION SUPPRESSION AND DYNAMIC BALANCING FOR RETARGETING MOTIONS ONTO ROBOTIC SYSTEMS

Number: 20220134552
Published: 2022-05-05
Filed: 2022-01-12
Assignee: DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.
Inventors: Bächer; Moritz Niklaus, Knoop; Lars Espen, Schumacher; Christian Gabriel
CPC: B25J9/1671; B25J9/1633
Verdict: High Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Vibration-suppressing motion-retargeting control for robotic systems (Bächer).

Abstract

A system providing dynamic balancing in a robotic system. The system includes memory storing a definition of a robot and storing an input animation for the robot specifying motion of components of the robot. A simulator performs a dynamic simulation of the robot performing the input animation including modeling a first set of the components as flexible components and a second set of the components as rigid components. Each of the flexible components is coupled at opposite ends to one of the rigid components. An optimizer generates a retargeted motion for the components to provide dynamic balancing of the robot performing the retargeted motion. The optimizer generates the retargeted motion by transforming forces acting on the robot to a local contact frame rigidly moving with the robot. The optimizer generates the retargeted motion so a zero-moment point of the robot lies in a support area of the robot's feet.

Background

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Description

The present description relates, in general, to robots (or “robotic systems” or “robotic characters”) and control systems and methods for such robots. More particularly, the description relates to a method of generating control signals for a robotic system or robot (and to controllers implementing such a method and robotic systems or robots with such controllers) that provides computational vibration suppression with or without dynamic balancing during the movements of the robotic system or robot. 2. Relevant Background

Audio-animatronic figures and other robotic systems often suffer from unwanted vibrations during their operations. In particular, robotic systems or robots often will experience undesirable vibrations when undergoing fast and dynamic motions such as may be useful in a robotic character to provide expressive animations. For example, a robot may have an arm or leg that they move quickly from one location to a second location to provide a desired movement or move to a new pose, and the robot's arm or leg may vibrate significantly upon stopping at the second location. This can be undesirable when trying to replicate a particular character's movements, when trying to provide human-like motions, and so on.

In general, robotic systems are designed to be as stiff as possible, but, unfortunately, the physical system is rarely sufficiently stiff to behave like an idealized mechanical system whose components are

Claims

1. A system for providing dynamic balancing in a robotic system, comprising: memory storing a definition of a robot defining a plurality of components of the robot and storing an input animation for the robot specifying motion of the components of the robot over a time period; a processor communicatively linked to the memory; a simulator provided by the processor running software, wherein the simulator performs a dynamic simulation of the robot performing the input animation including modeling a first set of the components as flexible components and a second set of the components as rigid components, wherein each of the flexible components is coupled at opposite ends to one of the rigid components; and an optimizer provided by the processor running software, wherein the optimizer generates a retargeted motion for the components to provide dynamic balancing of the robot while performing the retargeted motion. || 12. A system for controlling a robotic system with dynamic balancing, comprising: memory storing parameters of a target robotic system and an input motion for the target robotic system, wherein the input motion is defined by a set of motor trajectories defining movement of components of the robotic system; and an optimizer modifying the set of motor trajectories to provide dynamic balancing of the robotic system during operations to perform a retargeted motion based on the input motion. || 19. A method of suppressing vibration in a robotic system, comprising: receiving a set of input motions for a robot; simulating the robot operating based on the set of input motions by representing, during replaying of the set of input motions, flexible components of the robot as deformable bodies and rigid components of the robot as rigid bodies and by enforcing two-way coupling constraints between ends of the deformable bodies and the rigid bodies; and optimizing the set of input motions to generate a retargeted motion for the components of the robot that provides dynamic balancing of the robot, wherein the optimizing comprises computing the retargeted motion to provide a zero-moment point of the robot that lies in a support area of one or more feet or other effector components of the robot during the simulating.