What is Vertical Stability

In this chapter, the problem of trajectory generation for bipedal walking robots is considered. A number of modern techniques are discussed, and their limitations are shown. The chapter focuses on zero-moment point methods for trajectory generation, where the desired trajectory of that point can be used to allow the robot to keep vertical stability if followed, and presents an instrument to calculate the desired trajectory for the center of mass for the robot. The chapter presents an algorithm based on quadratic programming, with an introduction of a slack variable to make the problem feasible and a change of variables to improve the numeric properties of the resulting optimization problem. Modern optimization tools allow one to solve such problems in real time, making it a viable solution for trajectory planning for the walking robots. The chapter shows a few results from the numerical simulation made for the algorithm, demonstrating its properties.