Related papers: Whole-Body Control with Motion/Force Transmissibil…
Complex multibody legged robots can have complex rotational control challenges. In this paper, we propose a concise way to understand and formulate a \emph{whole-body orientation} that (i) depends on system configuration only and not a…
Motion imitation is a pivotal and effective approach for humanoid robots to achieve a more diverse range of complex and expressive movements, making their performances more human-like. However, the significant differences in kinematics and…
In this paper, we present a hybrid position/force controller for operating joint robots. The hybrid controller has two goals -- motion tracking and force regulating. As long as these two goals are not mutually exclusive, they can be…
In this paper, we propose a novel approach on controlling wheel-legged quadrupedal robots using pose optimization and force control via quadratic programming (QP). Our method allows the robot to leverage the whole-body motion and the wheel…
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…
Implementing obstacle avoidance in dynamic environments is a challenging problem for robots. Model predictive control (MPC) is a popular strategy for dealing with this type of problem, and recent work mainly uses control barrier function…
The embodied learning of human motor control requires whole-body neuro-actuated musculoskeletal dynamics, while the internal muscle-driven processes underlying movement remain inaccessible to direct measurement. Computational modeling…
Humanoid robots are promising to acquire various skills by imitating human behaviors. However, existing algorithms are only capable of tracking smooth, low-speed human motions, even with delicate reward and curriculum design. This paper…
An efficient communication mechanism forms the backbone for any multi-robot system to achieve fruitful collaboration and coordination. Limitation in the existing asynchronous transmission based strategies in fast dissemination and…
Multisection continuum arms offer complementary characteristics to those of traditional rigid-bodied robots. Inspired by biological appendages, such as elephant trunks and octopus arms, these robots trade rigidity for compliance, accuracy…
This paper presents a novel method for assistive load carrying using quadruped robots. The controller uses proprioceptive sensor data to estimate external base wrench, that is used for precise control of the robot's acceleration during…
The hierarchical quadratic programming (HQP) is commonly applied to consider strict hierarchies of multi-tasks and robot's physical inequality constraints during whole-body compliance. However, for the one-step HQP, the solution can…
Mobile Manipulation (MoMa) of articulated objects, such as opening doors, drawers, and cupboards, demands simultaneous, whole-body coordination between a robot's base and arms. Classical whole-body controllers (WBCs) can solve such problems…
This paper presents the design, analysis, and performance evaluation of an omnidirectional transformable wheel-leg robot called OmniWheg. We design a novel mechanism consisting of a separable omni-wheel and 4-bar linkages, allowing the…
Evaluation of pair potentials is critical in a number of areas of physics. The classicalN-body problem has its root in evaluating the Laplace potential, and has spawned tree-algorithms, the fast multipole method (FMM), as well as kernel…
Ensuring safe and effective collaboration between humans and autonomous legged robots is a fundamental challenge in shared autonomy, particularly for teleoperated systems navigating cluttered environments. Conventional shared-control…
Electric quadruped robots used in outdoor exploration are susceptible to leg-related electrical or mechanical failures. Unexpected joint power loss and joint locking can immediately pose a falling threat. Typically, controllers lack the…
Enforcing balance of multi-limbed robots in multiple non-coplanar unilateral contact settings is challenging when a subset of such contacts are also induced in motion tasks. The first contribution of this paper is in enhancing the…
Safety-critical whole-body robot control demands reactive methods that ensure collision avoidance in real-time. Complementarity constraints and control barrier functions (CBF) have emerged as core tools for ensuring such safety constraints,…
Online planning of whole-body motions for legged robots is challenging due to the inherent nonlinearity in the robot dynamics. In this work, we propose a nonlinear MPC framework, the BiConMP which can generate whole body trajectories online…