Related papers: Bilevel Optimization for Planning through Contact:…
In this work we present a trajectory Optimization framework for whole-body motion planning through contacts. We demonstrate how the proposed approach can be applied to automatically discover different gaits and dynamic motions on a…
Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a common tool for the control of nonlinear, real-world systems, such as legged robots. However, solving MPC quickly enough to enable its use in real-time is often challenging. One common solution is given…
Locomotion planning for legged systems requires reasoning about suitable contact schedules. The contact sequence and timings constitute a hybrid dynamical system and prescribe a subset of achievable motions. State-of-the-art approaches cast…
Contact planning is crucial in locomoting systems.Specifically, appropriate contact planning can enable versatile behaviors (e.g., sidewinding in limbless locomotors) and facilitate speed-dependent gait transitions (e.g., walk-trot-gallop…
Planning locomotion trajectories for legged microrobots is challenging because of their complex morphology, high frequency passive dynamics, and discontinuous contact interactions with their environment. Consequently, such research is often…
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…
In this paper we propose a method to improve the accuracy of trajectory optimization for dynamic robots with intermittent contact by using orthogonal collocation. Until recently, most trajectory optimization methods for systems with…
In this work, we propose a trajectory generation method for robotic systems with contact force constraint based on optimal control and reachability analysis. Normally, the dynamics and constraints of the contact-constrained robot are…
Motion planning for multi-jointed robots is challenging. Due to the inherent complexity of the problem, most existing works decompose motion planning as easier subproblems. However, because of the inconsistent performance metrics, only…
Legged robot locomotion requires the planning of stable reference trajectories, especially while traversing uneven terrain. The proposed trajectory optimization framework is capable of generating dynamically stable base and footstep…
Loco-manipulation planning skills are pivotal for expanding the utility of robots in everyday environments. These skills can be assessed based on a system's ability to coordinate complex holistic movements and multiple contact interactions…
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…
This paper presents a novel contact-implicit trajectory optimization method using an analytically solvable contact model to enable planning of interactions with hard, soft, and slippery environments. Specifically, we propose a novel contact…
Practical bipedal robot locomotion needs to be both energy efficient and robust to variability and uncertainty. In this paper, we build upon recent works in trajectory optimization for robot locomotion with two primary goals. First, we wish…
This paper presents a multi-contact approach to generalized humanoid fall mitigation planning that unifies inertial shaping, protective stepping, and hand contact strategies. The planner optimizes both the contact sequence and the robot…
Legged robotic systems can play an important role in real-world applications due to their superior load-bearing capabilities, enhanced autonomy, and effective navigation on uneven terrain. They offer an optimal trade-off between mobility…
Bipedal robots have received much attention because of the variety of motion maneuvers that they can produce, and the many applications they have in various areas including rehabilitation. One of these motion maneuvers is walking. In this…
In legged logomotion, online trajectory optimization techniques generally depend on heuristic-based contact planners in order to have low computation times and achieve high replanning frequencies. In this work, we propose ContactNet, a fast…
We present a novel method for global motion planning of robotic systems that interact with the environment through contacts. Our method directly handles the hybrid nature of such tasks using tools from convex optimization. We formulate the…
This paper presents a planning pipeline framework for locomotion in rope-assisted robots climbing vertical surfaces. The proposed framework is formulated as a bi-level optimization scheme that addresses a mixed-integer problem: selecting…