Zero Moment Point - Introduction

Introduction

This concept was introduced in January 1968 by Miomir Vukobratović at The Third All-Union Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Moscow. In the following works and papers that were produced between 1970 and 1972 it would then be called zero moment point and would be spread around the world.

The zero moment point is a very important concept in the motion planning for biped robots. Since they have only two points of contact with the floor and they are supposed to walk, “run” or “jump” (in the motion context), their motion has to be planned concerning the dynamical stability of their whole body. This is not an easy task, especially because the upper body of the robot (torso) has larger mass and inertia than the legs which are supposed to support and move the robot. This can be compared to the problem of balancing an inverted pendulum.

The trajectory of a walking robot is planned using the angular momentum equation to ensure that the generated joint trajectories guarantee the dynamical postural stability of the robot, which usually is quantified by the distance of the zero moment point in the boundaries of a predefined stability region. The position of the zero moment point is affected by the referred mass and inertia of the robot’s torso, since its motion generally requires large ankle torques to maintain a satisfactory dynamical postural stability.

One approach to solve this problem consists in using small trunk motions to stabilize the posture of the robot. However, some new planning methods are being developed to define the trajectories of the legs’ links in such a way that the torso of the robot is naturally steered in order to reduce the ankle torque needed to compensate its motion. If the trajectory planning for the leg links is well succeeded, then the zero moment point won’t move out of the predefined stability region and the motion of the robot will become smoother, mimicking a natural trajectory.