Related papers: A Whole-Body Model Predictive Control Scheme Inclu…
In this paper, we propose a novel framework on force-and-moment-based Model Predictive Control (MPC) for dynamic legged robots. Specifically, we present a formulation of MPC designed for 10 degree-of-freedom (DoF) bipedal robots using…
Recent progress in legged locomotion has rendered quadruped manipulators a promising solution for performing tasks that require both mobility and manipulation (loco-manipulation). In the real world, task specifications and/or environment…
Walking motion planning based on Divergent Component of Motion (DCM) and Linear Inverted Pendulum Model (LIPM) is one of the alternatives that could be implemented to generate online humanoid robot gait trajectories. This algorithm requires…
We introduce a real-time, constrained, nonlinear Model Predictive Control for the motion planning of legged robots. The proposed approach uses a constrained optimal control algorithm known as SLQ. We improve the efficiency of this algorithm…
This paper investigates the problem of efficient computation of physically consistent multi-contact behaviors. Recent work showed that under mild assumptions, the problem could be decomposed into simpler kinematic and centroidal dynamic…
In this paper, we analyze the effects of contact models on contact-implicit trajectory optimization for manipulation. We consider three different approaches: (1) a contact model that is based on complementarity constraints, (2) a smooth…
This paper presents a contact-implicit model predictive control (MPC) framework for the real-time discovery of multi-contact motions, without predefined contact mode sequences or foothold positions. This approach utilizes the…
We present an integrated approach to locomotion and balancing of humanoid robots based on direct centroidal control. Our method uses a five-mass description of a humanoid. It generates whole-body motions from desired foot trajectories and…
Can we enable humanoid robots to generate rich, diverse, and expressive motions in the real world? We propose to learn a whole-body control policy on a human-sized robot to mimic human motions as realistic as possible. To train such a…
Previous humanoid robot research works treat the robot as a bipedal mobile manipulation platform, where only the feet and hands contact the environment. However, we humans use all body parts to interact with the world, e.g., we sit in…
Enabling robots to autonomously perform hybrid motions in diverse environments can be beneficial for long-horizon tasks such as material handling, household chores, and work assistance. This requires extensive exploitation of intrinsic…
We demonstrate the surprising real-world effectiveness of a very simple approach to whole-body model-predictive control (MPC) of quadruped and humanoid robots: the iterative LQR (iLQR) algorithm with MuJoCo dynamics and finite-difference…
We model Human-Robot-Interaction (HRI) scenarios as linear dynamical systems and use Model Predictive Control (MPC) with mixed integer constraints to generate human-aware control policies. We motivate the approach by presenting two…
This paper presents a novel approach to enhance Model Predictive Control (MPC) for legged robots through Distributed Optimization. Our method focuses on decomposing the robot dynamics into smaller, parallelizable subsystems, and utilizing…
This paper presents a system for enabling real-time synthesis of whole-body locomotion and manipulation policies for real-world legged robots. Motivated by recent advancements in robot simulation, we leverage the efficient parallelization…
Robots must make and break contact with the environment to perform useful tasks, but planning and control through contact remains a formidable challenge. In this work, we achieve real-time contact-implicit model predictive control with a…
Robotic manipulation demands precise control over both contact forces and motion trajectories. While force control is essential for achieving compliant interaction and high-frequency adaptation, it is limited to operations in close…
Non-linear model predictive control (nMPC) is a powerful approach to control complex robots (such as humanoids, quadrupeds, or unmanned aerial manipulators (UAMs)) as it brings important advantages over other existing techniques. The…
Many humanoid and multi-legged robots are controlled in positions rather than in torques, which prevents direct control of contact forces, and hampers their ability to create multiple contacts to enhance their balance, such as placing a…
Humanoid robots rely on multi-contact planners to navigate a diverse set of environments, including those that are unstructured and highly constrained. To synthesize stable multi-contact plans within a reasonable time frame, most planners…