Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
This is in response to applicant’s filing date of June 30, 2025, and preliminary amendment filed on 9/15/2025. Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority to Application CN202310558206.5, filed on May 17, 2023. The certified copy of the application as required by 37 CFR 1.55 has been received.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on June 30, 2025, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority to Prior-Filed Application
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application, PCT/CN2023/131610 filed on 11/14/2023, under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections -- 35 U.S.C. § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAKASUGI et al (US-20240058943-A1)(“Takasugi”) and Wang et al (US- 20230087057-A1)(“Wang”).
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As per claim 1, Takasugi discloses a control method for a robot, performed by a computer device (Figure 6), the robot comprising a body (Figure 1, robot 100a), and a first robotic leg set and a second robotic leg set connected to the body through hip joints (Above Figure 1, leg set 1 comprising leg 101 and wheel 102), at least one of the first robotic leg set and the second robotic leg set comprising at least two robotic legs (Above Figure 1, each leg set has one plus legs), and a rotation center of a hip joint corresponding to the first robotic leg set and a rotation center of a hip joint corresponding to the second robotic leg set being located on a same vertical plane (Takasugi at Figure 2A, rotary joint 103 at each leg set), and the method comprising:
obtaining a desired operation space task of the robot on a support plane (Takasugi at Para. [0613] discloses the task of travelling:” target movement range of in units of each grounding period of the leg in a case of traveling according to the target speed and the target gait parameter is calculated.”), the desired operation space task comprising a desired acceleration of a part of the robot in an operation space of the robot (Takasugi at Para. [0531] discloses a certain speed for movement of the robot:” assuming that the leg wheel robot 100a performs a uniform motion with the moving speed information 215 described with reference to FIG. 6, that is, at the speed=V, the target gait generation unit 223 calculates the target movement range of each leg in the grounding period, and generates the “target gait” including the target movement range of each leg.”) , and the desired operation space task being configured for guiding the robot to alternately swing the first robotic leg set and the second robotic leg set to move on the support plane (Takasugi at Para. [0550] discloses movement on a grounded surface and stair surface; and in Para. [0354] discloses the swinging of at least one leg when performing movement at a stair surface:” FIGS. 15(a) to (b), at the timing of time t2, the wheel at the leg tip of the front middle leg (FM) of the leg wheel robot 100a is swung up to the height of the stair surface B and placed on the stair surface B, and then the grounded traveling is started.”);
(Takasugi at Para. [0222] discloses determining the joint torque necessary (desired) for performing an operation such as moving or climbing stairs:” the drive unit 226 calculates both the joint torque and the joint position and the speed necessary for achieving the track on the basis of the track information of each leg of the robot generated by the track generation unit 225”.), the desired joint torque set comprising desired joint torques configured for controlling all parts of the robot (Takasugi at Para. [0222] discloses using the determined joint torques to control the robot:” outputs a control signal according to the calculated joint torque and the joint position and the speed to the joint part 231 to drive the joint part.”); and
controlling, based on the desired joint torque set, the robot to move under guidance of the desired operation space task (Takasugi at Para. [0221] discloses determining a torque value and controlling the robot based on the value:” the drive unit 226 calculates joint torque necessary for achieving the track on the basis of the track information of each leg of the robot generated by the track generation unit 225, and outputs a control signal according to the calculated joint torque to the joint part 231 to drive the joint part.”).
Takasugi does not disclose, but wang discloses that the determined torque is calculated by obtaining, according to the desired operation space task and a whole-body dynamics model of the robot (Wang at Paras. [0085]-[0087] discloses that is known to use a whole-body dynamics model to calculate the joint torque for a robot:” Operation 360: Input the target joint angular acceleration reference value into a whole-body dynamics controller to output a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform a control task. [0086] The whole-body dynamics controller includes a series of equations formed by control tasks and constraint conditions.[0087] The processor of the wheel-legged robot solves a secondary optimization problem with the control goal of the target joint angular acceleration reference value by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting constraint conditions, so as to obtain a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform a control task.”).
Wang is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of systems which controls a multi-pedal robot to climb stairs and the like. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Takasugi further in view of Wang to allow for finding the joint torque set for a multi-pedal robot using whole-body dynamics model . Motivation to do so would allow for reducing instability of the robot since whole-body control stability permits the robot to flexibly complete complex actions such as jumping, somersaults and step walking. (Wang at Para. [0018]).
As per claim 2, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the desired joint torque set corresponding to the desired operation space task comprises:
obtaining a forward dynamics model of the robot, the forward dynamics model being configured to indicate a relationship between an acceleration of the robot in the operation space and a velocity and an acceleration of the robot in a joint space of the robot (Wang at Para. [0193] discloses the obtaining of the forward dynamics of the robot by calculating the forward motion:” By means of such settings, on the basis of achieving the balance control of the wheel-legged robot, the left and right wheel legs may further be controlled to have a relative distance in a direction of forward motion of the robot according to actual terrains and motion situations (for example, in the direction of forward motion, the left wheel leg is arranged in front of the right wheel leg).”.);
combining the whole-body dynamics model and the forward dynamics model, to obtain a target dynamics equation, the acceleration of the robot in the joint space being used as an unknown variable of the target dynamics equation (Wang at Para. [0222] discloses combining the dynamic components to determine a combined whole body model for the robot:” in a case of meeting the above dynamics equations and frictional constraints, the corresponding relationship between the operating space of the wheel-legged robot (in which robot motion control is performed) and the joint motion space of the wheel-legged robot (in which each joint of the wheel-legged robot performs a corresponding joint motion) may be determined.”); and
substituting the desired operation space task into the target dynamics equation, to obtain the desired joint torque set (Wang at Para. [0076] discloses substituting the various components to control using the whole-body dynamics for the robot:” processor of the wheel-legged robot substitutes the obtained target joint angular acceleration of the joint of the wheel-legged robot into a preset function to determine the joint torque of the joint, wherein the preset function is used for indicating a conversion relationship between the target joint angular acceleration and the joint torque.”).
As per claim 3, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 2, wherein substituting the desired operation space task into the target dynamics equation, to obtain the desired joint torque set comprises:
replacing the acceleration of the robot in the operation space in the target dynamics equation with the desired operation space task, to obtain an intermediate dynamics equation (Wang at Para. [0197] discloses a process for setting the parameters of the dynamics equation including intermediate steps:” the process of setting the constraint function of the robot, first, the constraint relationship between the acceleration required for each sub-task (balance task of the wheel leg, roll task of the base) control and an actually inputted joint torque is established by establishing a dynamics model of the robot, the base of the wheel-legged robot is not fixedly connected with an inertial system, and there is a closed chain in kinematics.”);
constructing a physical joint constraint expression and a friction constraint expression of the robot, the physical joint constraint expression being configured for constraining each joint of the robot, and a contact force between the robot under a constraint of the friction constraint expression and the support plane satisfying a friction cone constraint (want at Para. [0208] discloses the use of friction and other forces at the robot dynamics:” equality constraints may be obtained by a complete dynamics method, and according to the friction cone limit, the constraints that a contact force F.sub.c needs to meet under a local system”.); and
solving the intermediate dynamics equation under constraints of the physical joint constraint expression and the friction constraint expression of the robot, to obtain the desired joint torque set (Wang at Para. [0235] discloses solving the equation that describe the whole-body dynamics for the robot:” the output module 960 is configured to solve a secondary optimization problem with the control goal of the target joint angular acceleration reference value by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting constraint conditions, so as to obtain a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform the self-balance task.”).
As per claim 4, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 3, wherein solving the intermediate dynamics equation under constraints of the physical joint constraint expression and the friction constraint expression of the robot, to obtain the desired joint torque set comprises:
constructing an objective function of the intermediate dynamics equation through a quadratic programming optimization method (Wang at Para. [0236] discloses calculating a control goal which represents the objective function for the robot:” output module 960 is configured to compute a target posture angular acceleration reference value of the base with the goal of maintaining relative balance based on the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg; and determine a joint torque of each joint in a case that the wheel-legged robot performs the self-balance task according to the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg and the target posture angular acceleration reference value of the base by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting the constraint conditions”.); and
obtaining the desired joint torque set under an optimization objective of minimizing the objective function and under the constraints of the physical joint constraint expression and the friction constraint expression of the robot (Wang at Para. [0237] discloses determining the joint torque set for links the robot links:” the output module 960 is configured to solve a secondary optimization problem with the control goal of the target joint angular acceleration reference value and the action reference trajectory by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting constraint conditions, so as to obtain a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform the action task.”.
As per claim 5, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 1,
wherein during movement of the robot, a robotic leg set configured to swing is a swinging robotic leg set, and a robotic leg set configured for stance is a stance robotic leg set (Takasugi at Para. [0550] discloses movement on a grounded surface and stair surface; and in Para. [0354] discloses the swinging of at least one leg when performing movement at a stair surface:” FIGS. 15(a) to (b), at the timing of time t2, the wheel at the leg tip of the front middle leg (FM) of the leg wheel robot 100a is swung up to the height of the stair surface B and placed on the stair surface B, and then the grounded traveling is started.”); and
obtaining the desired operation space task of the robot on the support plane comprises (Wang at Para. [0165] discloses obtaining the operational task for the robot:” Operation 6602-3: Determine a joint torque of each joint in a case that the wheel-legged robot performs the control task based on the target motion acceleration and the estimator of the target motion acceleration of the wheel-legged robot on the premise of meeting constraint conditions.”):
obtaining a first desired acceleration of the swinging robotic leg set in the operation space based on a swinging reference movement trajectory corresponding to the swinging robotic leg set, the swinging reference movement trajectory being obtained through movement trajectory planning for the swinging robotic leg set based on the support plane (Wang at Para. [0055] discloses determining a first desired acceleration for the robot:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”);
obtaining a second desired acceleration of the stance robotic leg set in the operation space based on a stance reference movement trajectory corresponding to the stance robotic leg set, the stance reference movement trajectory being obtained through movement trajectory planning for the stance robotic leg set based on the support plane (Wang at Para. [0055] discloses determining a second desired acceleration for the robot:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”);
obtaining a third desired acceleration of a center of mass of the robot in the operation space based on a center-of-mass reference movement trajectory corresponding to the center of mass, the center-of-mass reference movement trajectory being obtained through movement trajectory planning for the center of mass based on the support plane (Wang at Para. [0055] discloses determining a third desired acceleration for the robot:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”);
obtaining a fourth desired acceleration of a body of the robot in the operation space based on a posture reference change trajectory of the body, the posture reference change trajectory being obtained through change trajectory planning for the body (Wang at Para. [0055] discloses determining a fourth desired acceleration for the robot:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”); and
obtaining the desired operation space task based on the first desired acceleration, the second desired acceleration, the third desired acceleration, and the fourth desired acceleration (Wang at Para. [0056] discloses using the cumulative joint torque in the whole-body model:” in a case that the wheel-legged robot is a wheel-legged biped robot, the joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot includes a joint angular acceleration reference value of a left wheel leg and a joint angular acceleration reference value of a right wheel leg”.).
As per claim 6, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 5, wherein the robot stops moving after a plurality of control times; and
obtaining the first desired acceleration of the swinging robotic leg set in the operation space (Wang at Para. [0018] disclosing that a goal is to obtain the desired acceleration at different scenarios:” using the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint of the wheel-legged robot, determined by the nonlinear controller, as the input of the whole-body dynamics controller”.) comprises:
obtaining, for a control time of the plurality of control times, a reference position, a reference velocity, and a reference acceleration of the swinging robotic leg set at the control time based on the swinging reference movement trajectory (Wang at Para. [0055] determining acceleration at different reference scenarios:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”); and
calculating the first desired acceleration at the control time through a proportional derivative (PD) feedback controller based on the reference position, the reference velocity, and the reference acceleration of the swinging robotic leg set at the control time, and an actual position and an actual velocity of the swinging robotic leg set at the control time (Wang at Para. [0184] discloses a proportional feedback signal for controlling the robot:” distance between the base and the wheel leg (virtual single wheel) in an x direction at the current time, which may be computed according to a feedback rate, z.sub.wheel.sub.t.sup.base represents a distance between the base and the wheel leg (virtual single wheel) in a z direction at the current time”.).
As per claim 7, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 5, wherein during stance of the stance robotic leg, no relative slide occurs between a foot of the stance robotic leg and the support plane, and a value of the second desired acceleration is constantly zero (Wang at Para. [0185] discloses that a balance controller maintains the robot in balance which the examiner using reasonable interpretation equates as no slipping at the leg of the robot:” a feedback rate of a balance controller is finally obtained, and maximums of feedback coefficients K.sub.p,1, K.sub.p,2, K.sub.d,1, K.sub.d,2 may be designed and computed according to inner and outer loop systems respectively.”).
As per claim 8, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to any one of claim 5, wherein the robot moves in a first direction (Wang at Para. [0184] discloses various direction for robotic movement.); and
obtaining the third desired acceleration of the center of mass of the robot in the operation space (Takasugi at Para. [0136] discloses sensor to measure certain parameters at the robot’s center of mass (gravity):” state sensor 201 includes a sensor for observing an internal state of the robot, for example, an internal state such as a position, a speed, an acceleration, a gradient, and a center of gravity, for example, a sensor such as an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a position sensor mounted on a joint part of a leg of the robot, and an encoder.”) comprises:
obtaining a third desired sub-acceleration of the center of mass in the first direction based on a reference movement sub-trajectory of the center-of-mass reference movement trajectory in the first direction (Takasugi at Para. [0136] discloses sensor to measure certain parameters at the robot’s center of mass (gravity) such as acceleration:” state sensor 201 includes a sensor for observing an internal state of the robot, for example, an internal state such as a position, a speed, an acceleration, a gradient, and a center of gravity, for example, a sensor such as an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a position sensor mounted on a joint part of a leg of the robot, and an encoder.”);
obtaining a third desired sub-acceleration of the center of mass in a second direction based on a reference movement sub-trajectory of the center-of-mass reference movement trajectory in the second direction, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction (Takasugi at Para. [0147] discloses determining sub-acceleration at the center of mass:” the internal state such as a position, a speed, an acceleration, an inclination, and a center of gravity of the robot is analyzed.”); and
obtaining the third desired acceleration based on the third desired sub-acceleration of the center of mass in the first direction and the third desired sub-acceleration of the center of mass in the second direction (Takasugi at Para.[0149] discloses determining internal parameters at the center of the robot:” the internal state estimation unit 221 acquires sensor information such as the IMU and the encoder, and estimates the current position and posture of the trunk of the robot, the position of the toe, and differential information (speed, acceleration, and the like) thereof.”).
Wang is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of systems which controls a multi-pedal robot to climb stairs and the like. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Takasugi further in view of Wang to allow for finding the joint torque set for a multi-pedal robot using whole-body dynamics model . Motivation to do so would allow for reducing instability of the robot since whole-body control stability permits the robot to flexibly complete complex actions such as jumping, somersaults and step walking. (Wang at Para. [0018]).
As per claim 9, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 8, wherein the robot stops moving after a plurality of control times (Wang at ; and
obtaining the third desired sub-acceleration of the center of mass in the first direction (Wang at Para. [0198] discloses determining a third acceleration (z-direction) for the robot:” assuming that the wheel and the ground have no sliding friction and only have pure rolling friction, there is a constraint that the acceleration of a contact point in an x direction (the x direction is a forward direction of the robot) and a z direction (the z direction is a vertical upward direction) under a local coordinate system is 0.“) comprises:
constructing an inverted pendulum dynamics equation of the robot by using a position of the center of mass, a velocity of the center of mass, a distance between the center of mass and a stance contact point in the first direction, and a derivative of the distance as state variables and using an acceleration of the center of mass relative to the stance contact point in the first direction as a control variable, the stance contact point being a contact point between the foot corresponding to the stance robotic leg set and the support plane (Wang at Para. [0037] discloses converting to an inverted pendulum model:” the wheel-legged robot 100 may be approximated to a trolley inverted pendulum structure, wherein the height of the wheel-legged robot 100 corresponds to the pendulum length in the inverted pendulum structure.”);
calculating a feedback gain matrix of the inverted pendulum dynamics equation through a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) (Wang at Para. [0185] discloses a feedback matrix component for the control of the robot:” a feedback rate of a balance controller is finally obtained, and maximums of feedback coefficients K.sub.p,1, K.sub.p,2, K.sub.d,1, K.sub.d,2 may be designed and computed according to inner and outer loop systems respectively.”);
obtaining, for a control time of the plurality of control times, a reference position and a reference velocity of the center of mass and a reference distance and a reference velocity between the center of mass and the stance contact point in the first direction at the control time based on the reference movement sub-trajectory in the first direction (Wang at Para. [0186] discloses a control (target) time for the robot:” wherein {umlaut over (x)}.sub.wheel,t+1 represents a motion acceleration of the wheel leg (virtual single wheel) at a target time, x.sub.wheel.sub.t+1.sup.base represents an expected distance between the base and the wheel leg (virtual single wheel) in an x direction at the target time”.); and
obtaining a third desired sub-acceleration in the first direction at the control time based on the feedback gain matrix, and the reference position and the reference velocity of the center of mass and the reference distance and the reference velocity between the center of mass and the stance contact point in the first direction at the control time (Wang at Para. [0198] the acceleration is computed in various directions:” computing a Jacobian matrix J.sub.c of a velocity v.sub.1 of the left and right wheel legs in the x and z directions under the local coordinate system relative to a generalized joint motion velocity {dot over (q)}, according to the acceleration constraint”.).
As per claim 10, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 8, wherein the robot stops moving after a plurality of control times (Wang at Para. [0123] discloses controlling the robot using preset-time intervals which is interpreted as stops until reaching a task destination:” the action reference trajectory of the action task is used for representing the expected motion information of the wheel-legged robot at a target time, wherein the target time may be the next time of the current time or the time after the preset time interval of the current time.”); and
obtaining the third desired sub-acceleration of the center of mass in the second direction (Wang at Para. [0198] the acceleration is computed in various directions:” computing a Jacobian matrix J.sub.c of a velocity v.sub.1 of the left and right wheel legs in the x and z directions under the local coordinate system relative to a generalized joint motion velocity {dot over (q)}, according to the acceleration constraint”.) comprises:
obtaining, for a control time of the plurality of control times, a reference position, a reference velocity, and a reference acceleration of the center of mass in the second direction at the control time based on the reference movement sub-trajectory in the second direction (Wang at Paras. [0124]-[0127] discloses determining various reference positions and trajectories for the robot:” the action reference trajectory includes the information of an expected motion state and an expected self-balance state of the wheel-legged robot at the target time, such as at least part of a target horizontal distance between the mass center of the wheel leg and the mass center of the base, a target relative velocity of the mass center of the wheel leg and the mass center of the base, a target motion position of the wheel leg and a target motion velocity of the wheel leg, or may include other motion parameter information according to actual situations.” At Para. [0124]); and
calculating the third desired sub-acceleration in the second direction at the control time through the PD feedback controller based on the reference position, the reference velocity, and the reference acceleration of the center of mass in the second direction at the control time, and an actual position and an actual velocity of the center of mass in the second direction at the control time (Wang at Para. [0184] discloses a proportional feedback signal for controlling the robot:” distance between the base and the wheel leg (virtual single wheel) in an x direction at the current time, which may be computed according to a feedback rate, z.sub.wheel.sub.t.sup.base represents a distance between the base and the wheel leg (virtual single wheel) in a z direction at the current time”.).
As per claim 11, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 5, wherein the robot stops moving after a plurality of control times (Wang at Para. [0123] discloses controlling the robot using preset-time intervals which is interpreted as stops until reaching a task destination:” the action reference trajectory of the action task is used for representing the expected motion information of the wheel-legged robot at a target time, wherein the target time may be the next time of the current time or the time after the preset time interval of the current time.”); and
obtaining the fourth desired acceleration of the body of the robot in the operation space (Wang at Para. [0193] discloses the obtaining of the forward dynamics of the robot by calculating the forward motion:” By means of such settings, on the basis of achieving the balance control of the wheel-legged robot, the left and right wheel legs may further be controlled to have a relative distance in a direction of forward motion of the robot according to actual terrains and motion situations (for example, in the direction of forward motion, the left wheel leg is arranged in front of the right wheel leg).”.) comprises:
obtaining, for a control time of the plurality of control times, a reference posture angle, a reference posture angular velocity, and a reference posture angular acceleration of the body at the control time based on the posture reference change trajectory (Wang at Para. [0058] discloses determining various angles for the robot:” inclination angle θ is taken as a pitch angle of the wheel-legged robot as an example for description. u represents a balance torque, that is, a thrust exerted on the wheel-legged robot, and there is a corresponding relationship between u and a torque exerted on the wheel.”); and
calculating the fourth desired acceleration at the control time through the PD feedback controller based on the reference posture angle, the reference posture angular velocity, and the reference posture angular acceleration of the body at the control time, and an actual posture angle and an actual posture angular velocity of the body at the control time (Wang at Para. [0184] discloses a proportional feedback signal for controlling the robot:” distance between the base and the wheel leg (virtual single wheel) in an x direction at the current time, which may be computed according to a feedback rate, z.sub.wheel.sub.t.sup.base represents a distance between the base and the wheel leg (virtual single wheel) in a z direction at the current time”.).
As per claim 12, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 11, wherein the body of the robot maintains vertical during movement of the robot (Takasugi at Para. [0403] discloses that the robot maintains vertical while traveling:” x1 to x9 indicated on the vertical axis (traveling direction (x)) are positions similar to the positions x1 to x9 described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 17.”), and a value of a reference posture angle, and a value of the reference posture angle, a value of the reference posture angular velocity, and a value of the reference posture angular acceleration corresponding to the body are all zero (Wang at Para. [0080] discloses an angle of the robot when travelling:” control the wheel-legged robot to be fixed at a balance point [0 0 x*0].sup.T … represents that an inclination angle is 0 …”).
As per claim 13, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein hip joints of the robot are coaxial (Takasugi at Figure 4A illustrates the hip joint as defined by 1003 and 104 as being coaxial.).
As per claim 14, Takasugi and Wang disclose a method according to claim 1, wherein robotic legs in the first robotic leg set move synchronously, and robotic legs in the second robotic leg set move synchronously (Takasugi at Para. [0008] discloses that the legs of the robot all reach a set of stairs at the same which indicates that these legs are synchronized with each other:” a case is assumed where all the six legs of the robot approach the wall of the stairs at the same time while the robot is traveling”.).
As per claim 15, Takasugi discloses a computer device comprising one or more processors and a memory containing a computer program that, when being executed, causes the one or more processors (Figure 27) to perform:
obtaining a desired operation space task of the robot on a support plane (Takasugi at Para. [0613] discloses the task of travelling:” target movement range of in units of each grounding period of the leg in a case of traveling according to the target speed and the target gait parameter is calculated.”), the desired operation space task comprising a desired acceleration of a part of the robot in an operation space of the robot (Takasugi at Para. [0531] discloses a certain speed for movement of the robot:” assuming that the leg wheel robot 100a performs a uniform motion with the moving speed information 215 described with reference to FIG. 6, that is, at the speed=V, the target gait generation unit 223 calculates the target movement range of each leg in the grounding period, and generates the “target gait” including the target movement range of each leg.”) , and the desired operation space task being configured for guiding the robot to alternately swing the first robotic leg set and the second robotic leg set to move on the support plane (Takasugi at Para. [0550] discloses movement on a grounded surface and stair surface; and in Para. [0354] discloses the swinging of at least one leg when performing movement at a stair surface:” FIGS. 15(a) to (b), at the timing of time t2, the wheel at the leg tip of the front middle leg (FM) of the leg wheel robot 100a is swung up to the height of the stair surface B and placed on the stair surface B, and then the grounded traveling is started.”);
, (Takasugi at Para. [0222] discloses determining the joint torque necessary (desired) for performing an operation such as moving or climbing stairs:” the drive unit 226 calculates both the joint torque and the joint position and the speed necessary for achieving the track on the basis of the track information of each leg of the robot generated by the track generation unit 225”.), the desired joint torque set comprising desired joint torques configured for controlling all parts of the robot (Takasugi at Para. [0222] discloses using the determined joint torques to control the robot:” outputs a control signal according to the calculated joint torque and the joint position and the speed to the joint part 231 to drive the joint part.”); and
controlling, based on the desired joint torque set, the robot to move under guidance of the desired operation space task (Takasugi at Para. [0221] discloses determining a torque value and controlling the robot based on the value:” the drive unit 226 calculates joint torque necessary for achieving the track on the basis of the track information of each leg of the robot generated by the track generation unit 225, and outputs a control signal according to the calculated joint torque to the joint part 231 to drive the joint part.”).
Takasugi does not disclose, but wang discloses that the determined torque is calculated by obtaining, according to the desired operation space task and a whole-body dynamics model of the robot (Wang at Paras. [0085]-[0087] discloses that is known to use a whole-body dynamics model to calculate the joint torque for a robot:” Operation 360: Input the target joint angular acceleration reference value into a whole-body dynamics controller to output a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform a control task. [0086] The whole-body dynamics controller includes a series of equations formed by control tasks and constraint conditions.[0087] The processor of the wheel-legged robot solves a secondary optimization problem with the control goal of the target joint angular acceleration reference value by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting constraint conditions, so as to obtain a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform a control task.”).
As per claim 16, Takasugi and Wang disclose a device according to claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform:
obtaining a forward dynamics model of the robot, the forward dynamics model being configured to indicate a relationship between an acceleration of the robot in the operation space and a velocity and an acceleration of the robot in a joint space of the robot (Wang at Para. [0193] discloses the obtaining of the forward dynamics of the robot by calculating the forward motion:” By means of such settings, on the basis of achieving the balance control of the wheel-legged robot, the left and right wheel legs may further be controlled to have a relative distance in a direction of forward motion of the robot according to actual terrains and motion situations (for example, in the direction of forward motion, the left wheel leg is arranged in front of the right wheel leg).”.);
combining the whole-body dynamics model and the forward dynamics model, to obtain a target dynamics equation, the acceleration of the robot in the joint space being used as an unknown variable of the target dynamics equation (Wang at Para. [0222] discloses combining the dynamic components to determine a combined whole body model for the robot:” in a case of meeting the above dynamics equations and frictional constraints, the corresponding relationship between the operating space of the wheel-legged robot (in which robot motion control is performed) and the joint motion space of the wheel-legged robot (in which each joint of the wheel-legged robot performs a corresponding joint motion) may be determined.”); and
substituting the desired operation space task into the target dynamics equation, to obtain the desired joint torque set (Wang at Para. [0076] discloses substituting the various components to control using the whole-body dynamics for the robot:” processor of the wheel-legged robot substitutes the obtained target joint angular acceleration of the joint of the wheel-legged robot into a preset function to determine the joint torque of the joint, wherein the preset function is used for indicating a conversion relationship between the target joint angular acceleration and the joint torque.”).
As per claim 17, Takasugi and Wang disclose a device according to claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform:
replacing the acceleration of the robot in the operation space in the target dynamics equation with the desired operation space task, to obtain an intermediate dynamics equation (Wang at Para. [0197] discloses a process for setting the parameters of the dynamics equation including intermediate steps:” the process of setting the constraint function of the robot, first, the constraint relationship between the acceleration required for each sub-task (balance task of the wheel leg, roll task of the base) control and an actually inputted joint torque is established by establishing a dynamics model of the robot, the base of the wheel-legged robot is not fixedly connected with an inertial system, and there is a closed chain in kinematics.”);
constructing a physical joint constraint expression and a friction constraint expression of the robot, the physical joint constraint expression being configured for constraining each joint of the robot, and a contact force between the robot under a constraint of the friction constraint expression and the support plane satisfying a friction cone constraint (want at Para. [0208] discloses the use of friction and other forces at the robot dynamics:” equality constraints may be obtained by a complete dynamics method, and according to the friction cone limit, the constraints that a contact force F.sub.c needs to meet under a local system”.); and
solving the intermediate dynamics equation under constraints of the physical joint constraint expression and the friction constraint expression of the robot, to obtain the desired joint torque set (Wang at Para. [0235] discloses solving the equation that describe the whole-body dynamics for the robot:” the output module 960 is configured to solve a secondary optimization problem with the control goal of the target joint angular acceleration reference value by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting constraint conditions, so as to obtain a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform the self-balance task.”).
As per claim 18, Takasugi and Wang disclose a device according to claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform:
constructing an objective function of the intermediate dynamics equation through a quadratic programming optimization method (Wang at Para. [0236] discloses calculating a control goal which represents the objective function for the robot:” output module 960 is configured to compute a target posture angular acceleration reference value of the base with the goal of maintaining relative balance based on the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg; and determine a joint torque of each joint in a case that the wheel-legged robot performs the self-balance task according to the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg and the target posture angular acceleration reference value of the base by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting the constraint conditions”.); and
obtaining the desired joint torque set under an optimization objective of minimizing the objective function and under the constraints of the physical joint constraint expression and the friction constraint expression of the robot (Wang at Para. [0237] discloses determining the joint torque set for links the robot links:” the output module 960 is configured to solve a secondary optimization problem with the control goal of the target joint angular acceleration reference value and the action reference trajectory by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting constraint conditions, so as to obtain a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform the action task.”.
As per claim 19, Takasugi and Wang disclose a device according to claim 15, wherein during movement of the robot, a robotic leg set configured to swing is a swinging robotic leg set, and a robotic leg set configured for stance is a stance robotic leg set (Takasugi at Para. [0550] discloses movement on a grounded surface and stair surface; and in Para. [0354] discloses the swinging of at least one leg when performing movement at a stair surface:” FIGS. 15(a) to (b), at the timing of time t2, the wheel at the leg tip of the front middle leg (FM) of the leg wheel robot 100a is swung up to the height of the stair surface B and placed on the stair surface B, and then the grounded traveling is started.”); and
the one or more processors are further configured to perform (Figure 27):
obtaining the desired operation space task of the robot on the support plane comprises (Wang at Para. [0165] discloses obtaining the operational task for the robot:” Operation 6602-3: Determine a joint torque of each joint in a case that the wheel-legged robot performs the control task based on the target motion acceleration and the estimator of the target motion acceleration of the wheel-legged robot on the premise of meeting constraint conditions.”):
obtaining a first desired acceleration of the swinging robotic leg set in the operation space based on a swinging reference movement trajectory corresponding to the swinging robotic leg set, the swinging reference movement trajectory being obtained through movement trajectory planning for the swinging robotic leg set based on the support plane (Wang at Para. [0055] discloses determining a first desired acceleration for the robot:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”);
obtaining a second desired acceleration of the stance robotic leg set in the operation space based on a stance reference movement trajectory corresponding to the stance robotic leg set, the stance reference movement trajectory being obtained through movement trajectory planning for the stance robotic leg set based on the support plane (Wang at Para. [0055] discloses determining a second desired acceleration for the robot:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”);
obtaining a third desired acceleration of a center of mass of the robot in the operation space based on a center-of-mass reference movement trajectory corresponding to the center of mass, the center-of-mass reference movement trajectory being obtained through movement trajectory planning for the center of mass based on the support plane (Wang at Para. [0055] discloses determining a third desired acceleration for the robot:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”);
obtaining a fourth desired acceleration of a body of the robot in the operation space based on a posture reference change trajectory of the body, the posture reference change trajectory being obtained through change trajectory planning for the body (Wang at Para. [0055] discloses determining a fourth desired acceleration for the robot:” the target joint angular acceleration reference value of the target robot joint includes: a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot, or a joint angular acceleration reference value of the base of the wheel-legged robot and a joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot.”); and
obtaining the desired operation space task based on the first desired acceleration, the second desired acceleration, the third desired acceleration, and the fourth desired acceleration (Wang at Para. [0056] discloses using the cumulative joint torque in the whole-body model:” in a case that the wheel-legged robot is a wheel-legged biped robot, the joint angular acceleration reference value of the wheel leg of the wheel-legged robot includes a joint angular acceleration reference value of a left wheel leg and a joint angular acceleration reference value of a right wheel leg”.).
As per claim 20, Takasugi discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing a computer program that, when being executed, causes at least one processor to perform (Figure 27):
obtaining a desired operation space task of the robot on a support plane (Takasugi at Para. [0613] discloses the task of travelling:” target movement range of in units of each grounding period of the leg in a case of traveling according to the target speed and the target gait parameter is calculated.”), the desired operation space task comprising a desired acceleration of a part of the robot in an operation space of the robot (Takasugi at Para. [0531] discloses a certain speed for movement of the robot:” assuming that the leg wheel robot 100a performs a uniform motion with the moving speed information 215 described with reference to FIG. 6, that is, at the speed=V, the target gait generation unit 223 calculates the target movement range of each leg in the grounding period, and generates the “target gait” including the target movement range of each leg.”) , and the desired operation space task being configured for guiding the robot to alternately swing the first robotic leg set and the second robotic leg set to move on the support plane (Takasugi at Para. [0550] discloses movement on a grounded surface and stair surface; and in Para. [0354] discloses the swinging of at least one leg when performing movement at a stair surface:” FIGS. 15(a) to (b), at the timing of time t2, the wheel at the leg tip of the front middle leg (FM) of the leg wheel robot 100a is swung up to the height of the stair surface B and placed on the stair surface B, and then the grounded traveling is started.”);
, (Takasugi at Para. [0222] discloses determining the joint torque necessary (desired) for performing an operation such as moving or climbing stairs:” the drive unit 226 calculates both the joint torque and the joint position and the speed necessary for achieving the track on the basis of the track information of each leg of the robot generated by the track generation unit 225”.), the desired joint torque set comprising desired joint torques configured for controlling all parts of the robot (Takasugi at Para. [0222] discloses using the determined joint torques to control the robot:” outputs a control signal according to the calculated joint torque and the joint position and the speed to the joint part 231 to drive the joint part.”); and
controlling, based on the desired joint torque set, the robot to move under guidance of the desired operation space task (Takasugi at Para. [0221] discloses determining a torque value and controlling the robot based on the value:” the drive unit 226 calculates joint torque necessary for achieving the track on the basis of the track information of each leg of the robot generated by the track generation unit 225, and outputs a control signal according to the calculated joint torque to the joint part 231 to drive the joint part.”).
Takasugi does not disclose, but wang discloses that the determined torque is calculated by obtaining, according to the desired operation space task and a whole-body dynamics model of the robot (Wang at Paras. [0085]-[0087] discloses that is known to use a whole-body dynamics model to calculate the joint torque for a robot:” Operation 360: Input the target joint angular acceleration reference value into a whole-body dynamics controller to output a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform a control task. [0086] The whole-body dynamics controller includes a series of equations formed by control tasks and constraint conditions.[0087] The processor of the wheel-legged robot solves a secondary optimization problem with the control goal of the target joint angular acceleration reference value by the whole-body dynamics controller on the premise of meeting constraint conditions, so as to obtain a joint torque for controlling the wheel-legged robot to perform a control task.”).
CONCLUSION
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
GOHL PASCAL et al. (WO- 2024120607-A1) HUMANOID ROBOT COMPRISING ARTICULATED LEGS WITH WHEELS OR TRACKS;
Whitman; Eric Cary (US- 20210331754-A1) Stair Tracking for Modeled and Perceived Terrain;
Chernyak; Vadim (US- 20200290217-A1) Robotic Leg;
MCGINN; CONOR (US- 20190118881-A1) OBSTACLE CROSSING ROBOT;
Klassen; James Brent (US- 9957002-B2) Mobile platform;
Hutcheson; Timothy L. et al. (US- 20110190935-A1) RECONFIGURABLE BALANCING ROBOT AND METHOD FOR MOVING OVER LARGE OBSTACLES;
Bridges; John Clinton (US- 6999849-B2) Folding robotic system;
Torii; Tetsuo et al. (US- 5739655-A) Ambulatory robot and ambulation control method for same;
Davis; Stuart D. (US- 5515934-A) Agile versatile mobile robot body;
Stewart; David E. S. (US- 4662465-A) Walking vehicle.
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/ELLIS B. RAMIREZ/Examiner, Art Unit 3658
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