Secondary action in robot motion

Michael J. Gielniak, C. Karen Liu, Andrea Lockerd Thomaz

Abstract: Secondary action, a concept borrowed from character animation, improves the animation realism by augmenting natural, passive motion to primary action. We use dynamic simulation to induce three techniques of secondary motion for robot hardware, which exploit actuation passivity to overcome hardware constraints and change the dynamic perception of the robot and its motion characteristics. Results of secondary motion due to internal and external forces are presented including discussion on how to choose the appropriate technique for a particular application.