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Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) has emerged as a promising method to develop humanoid robot locomotion controllers. Despite the robust and stable locomotion demonstrated by previous RL controllers, their behavior often lacks the natural…
Model-free reinforcement learning (RL) has enabled adaptable and agile quadruped locomotion; however, policies often converge to a single gait, leading to suboptimal performance. Traditionally, Model Predictive Control (MPC) has been…
Reinforcement learning is able to solve complex sequential decision-making tasks but is currently limited by sample efficiency and required computation. To improve sample efficiency, recent work focuses on model-based RL which interleaves…
For real-world deployments, it is critical to allow robots to navigate in complex environments autonomously. Traditional methods usually maintain an internal map of the environment, and then design several simple rules, in conjunction with…
Recently, work on reinforcement learning (RL) for bipedal robots has successfully learned controllers for a variety of dynamic gaits with robust sim-to-real demonstrations. In order to maintain balance, the learned controllers have full…
By combining the agility of legged locomotion with the capabilities of manipulation, loco-manipulation platforms have the potential to perform complex tasks in real-world applications. To this end, state-of-the-art quadrupeds with…
Balancing oneself using the spine is a physiological alignment of the body posture in the most efficient manner by the muscular forces for mammals. For this reason, we can see many disabled quadruped animals can still stand or walk even…
Robots are good at performing repetitive tasks in modern manufacturing industries. However, robot motions are mostly planned and preprogrammed with a notable lack of adaptivity to task changes. Even for slightly changed tasks, the whole…
We present a unified model-based and data-driven approach for quadrupedal planning and control to achieve dynamic locomotion over uneven terrain. We utilize on-board proprioceptive and exteroceptive feedback to map sensory information and…
For the deployment of legged robots in real-world environments, it is essential to develop robust locomotion control methods for challenging terrains that may exhibit unexpected deformability and irregularity. In this paper, we explore the…
Quadruped robots are often designed with rigid feet to simplify control and maintain stable contact during locomotion. While this approach is straightforward, it limits the ability of the legs to absorb impact forces and reuse stored…
While Reinforcement Learning (RL) has achieved remarkable progress in legged locomotion control, it often suffers from performance degradation in out-of-distribution (OOD) conditions and discrepancies between the simulation and the real…
Skill-based reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as a promising strategy to leverage prior knowledge for accelerated robot learning. Skills are typically extracted from expert demonstrations and are embedded into a latent space from…
Locomotion gaits are fundamental for control of soft terrestrial robots. However, synthesis of these gaits is challenging due to modeling of robot-environment interaction and lack of a mathematical framework. This work presents an…
A terrestrial robot that can maneuver rough terrain and scout places is very useful in mapping out unknown areas. It can also be used explore dangerous areas in place of humans. A terrestrial robot modeled after a scorpion will be able to…
Reinforcement learning (RL) enables robots to learn skills from interactions with the real world. In practice, the unstructured step-based exploration used in Deep RL -- often very successful in simulation -- leads to jerky motion patterns…
The most concentrated application of lower-limb rehabilitation exoskeleton (LLE) robot is that it can help paraplegics "re-walk". However, "walking" in daily life is more than just walking on flat ground with fixed gait. This paper focuses…
This research introduces a novel heuristic algorithm known as the Snake Locomotion Learning Search algorithm (SLLS) designed to address optimization problems. The SLLS draws inspiration from the locomotion patterns observed in snakes,…
In this paper, we propose a novel strategy for a snake robot to move straight up a cylindrical surface. Prior works on pole-climbing for a snake robot mainly utilized a rolling helix gait, and although proven to be efficient, it does not…
Controlled gliding is one of the most energetically efficient modes of transportation for natural and human powered fliers. Here we demonstrate that gliding and landing strategies with different optimality criteria can be identified through…