Optimal design of a limit cycle walker under the push-off actuation

Passive limit cycle walking is a special type of walking happening on a flat and slight downhill surface, without any energy injection and control, and in a cyclic manner. Compensation of energy lost through every heel strike by gravity effect, creates the cyclic behavior for the walking. The main advantage of this type of walking is getting higher efficiency, leading researchers to extend their studies in order to make passive dynamic based walkers. These bipeds can walk on level ground surface by little energy injection, instead of the gravity effect. This fact describes the standpoint of this article. In this research, with impulsive push-off actuation in hand and developing the related models, the walking of an actuated planar parametric model on level ground surface is simulated. Also the stability (with respect to the area of basin of attraction) and gait length has been analyzed by changing design parameters such as actuator’s location and foot shape. The results of this investigation indicates increase in relative stability and gait length for larger foot’s radius and of symmetrical shape.