Related papers: Fast and Continuous Foothold Adaptation for Dynami…
The ability to walk in new scenarios is a key milestone on the path toward real-world applications of legged robots. In this work, we introduce Meta Strategy Optimization, a meta-learning algorithm for training policies with latent variable…
We present an open-source untethered quadrupedal soft robot platform for dynamic locomotion (e.g., high-speed running and backflipping). The robot is mostly soft (80 vol.%) while driven by four geared servo motors. The robot's soft body and…
Locomotion on granular slopes such as sand dunes remains a fundamental challenge for legged robots due to reduced shear strength and gravity-induced anisotropic yielding of granular media. Using a hexapedal robot on a tiltable granular bed,…
Robot feet are crucial for maintaining dynamic stability and propelling the body during walking, especially on uneven terrains. Traditionally, robot feet were mostly designed as flat and stiff pieces of metal, which meets its limitations…
Humanoid robots offer significant versatility for performing a wide range of tasks, yet their basic ability to walk and run, especially at high velocities, remains a challenge. This letter presents a novel method that combines deep…
We present Visual Navigation and Locomotion over obstacles (ViNL), which enables a quadrupedal robot to navigate unseen apartments while stepping over small obstacles that lie in its path (e.g., shoes, toys, cables), similar to how humans…
Reliable and stable locomotion has been one of the most fundamental challenges for legged robots. Deep reinforcement learning (deep RL) has emerged as a promising method for developing such control policies autonomously. In this paper, we…
We present a method for training reference-guided, perceptive reinforcement learning locomotion policies for humanoid robots in which reference trajectories are modulated in training to be consistent with terrain geometry. Aiming to deploy…
Learning to walk -- i.e., learning locomotion under performance and energy constraints continues to be a challenge in legged robotics. Methods such as stochastic gradient, deep reinforcement learning (RL) have been explored for bipeds,…
As both legged robots and embedded compute have become more capable, researchers have started to focus on field deployment of these robots. Robust autonomy in unstructured environments requires perception of the world around the robot in…
Deep reinforcement learning (RL) based controllers for legged robots have demonstrated impressive robustness for walking in different environments for several robot platforms. To enable the application of RL policies for humanoid robots in…
Robots operating in human environments need various skills, like slow and fast walking, turning, side-stepping, and many more. However, building robot controllers that can exhibit such a large range of behaviors is a challenging problem…
Quadrupedal robots hold promising potential for applications in navigating cluttered environments with resilience akin to their animal counterparts. However, their floating base configuration makes them vulnerable to real-world…
In this paper, with a view toward fast deployment of locomotion gaits in low-cost hardware, we use a linear policy for realizing end-foot trajectories in the quadruped robot, Stoch $2$. In particular, the parameters of the end-foot…
While humans are highly capable of recovering from external disturbances and uncertainties that result in large tracking errors, humanoid robots have yet to reliably mimic this level of robustness. Essential to this is the ability to…
Deep reinforcement learning produces robust locomotion policies for legged robots over challenging terrains. To date, few studies have leveraged model-based methods to combine these locomotion skills with the precise control of…
For legged robots to match the athletic capabilities of humans and animals, they must not only produce robust periodic walking and running, but also seamlessly switch between nominal locomotion gaits and more specialized transient…
Today's robotic quadruped systems can robustly walk over a diverse range of rough but continuous terrains, where the terrain elevation varies gradually. Locomotion on discontinuous terrains, such as those with gaps or obstacles, presents a…
Compact quadrupedal robots are proving increasingly suitable for deployment in real-world scenarios. Their smaller size fosters easy integration into human environments. Nevertheless, real-time locomotion on uneven terrains remains…
Legged robots maintain dynamic feasibility through multicontact interactions with terrain. Learned foothold prediction can provide feasibility-aware costs for motion planning and path selection, but accurately predicting future contacts…