Generation and Local Stabilization of Fixed Point Based on a Stability Mechanism of Passive Walking

A passive walker with knees can walk down gentle slope in a natural gait and can exhibit a stable limit cycle. Though the passive walker is simple, it is a sort of hybrid system which combines the continuous dynamics of leg-swing motion and the discrete event of leg-exchange. We focus on the mechanisms of generation and stabilization of a fixed point of passive walking. We propose a generation method of fixed point based on its physical structure. We derive the local stabilization control method from a stability mechanism of a fixed point of passive walking.