Related papers: Perceptive Locomotion through Nonlinear Model Pred…
Millirobots are a promising robotic platform for many applications due to their small size and low manufacturing costs. Legged millirobots, in particular, can provide increased mobility in complex environments and improved scaling of…
We present an algorithm for robust model predictive control with consideration of uncertainty and safety constraints. Our framework considers a nonlinear dynamical system subject to disturbances from an unknown but bounded uncertainty set.…
We present an optimization-based method to plan the motion of an autonomous robot under the uncertainties associated with dynamic obstacles, such as humans. Our method bounds the marginal risk of collisions at each point in time by…
For full-size humanoid robots, even with recent advances in reinforcement learning-based control, achieving reliable locomotion on complex terrains, such as long staircases, remains challenging. In such settings, limited perception,…
Traversing risky terrains with sparse footholds presents significant challenges for legged robots, requiring precise foot placement in safe areas. To acquire comprehensive exteroceptive information, prior studies have employed motion…
This paper studies bipedal locomotion as a nonlinear optimization problem based on continuous and discrete dynamics, by simultaneously optimizing the remaining step duration, the next step duration and the foot location to achieve…
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…
We present a framework for dynamic quadrupedal locomotion over challenging terrain, where the choice of appropriate footholds is crucial for the success of the behaviour. We build a model of the environment on-line and on-board using an…
Mobile ground robots operating on unstructured terrain must predict which areas of the environment they are able to pass in order to plan feasible paths. We address traversability estimation as a heightmap classification problem: we build a…
This paper presents a novel episodic method to learn a robot's nonlinear dynamics model and an increasingly optimal control sequence for a set of tasks. The method is based on the {\em Koopman operator} approach to nonlinear dynamical…
This work introduces a hierarchical strategy for terrain-aware bipedal locomotion that integrates reduced-dimensional perceptual representations to enhance reinforcement learning (RL)-based high-level (HL) policies for real-time gait…
Precise trajectory tracking for legged robots can be challenging due to their high degrees of freedom, unmodeled nonlinear dynamics, or random disturbances from the environment. A commonly adopted solution to overcome these challenges is to…
Model-based control is a popular paradigm for robot navigation because it can leverage a known dynamics model to efficiently plan robust robot trajectories. However, it is challenging to use model-based methods in settings where the…
Model predictive control (MPC) has demonstrated effectiveness for humanoid bipedal locomotion; however, its applicability in challenging environments, such as rough and slippery terrain, is limited by the difficulty of modeling terrain…
Designing a humanoid locomotion controller is challenging and classically split up in sub-problems. Footstep planning is one of those, where the sequence of footsteps is defined. Even in simpler environments, finding a minimal sequence, or…
Humanoid robots are engineered to navigate terrains akin to those encountered by humans, which necessitates human-like locomotion and perceptual abilities. Currently, the most reliable controllers for humanoid motion rely exclusively on…
We exploit the complementary strengths of vision and proprioception to develop a point-goal navigation system for legged robots, called VP-Nav. Legged systems are capable of traversing more complex terrain than wheeled robots, but to fully…
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…
Perceptive locomotion for legged robots requires anticipating and adapting to complex, dynamic environments. Model Predictive Control (MPC) serves as a strong baseline, providing interpretable motion planning with constraint enforcement,…
As legged robots take on roles in industrial and autonomous construction, collaborative loco-manipulation is crucial for handling large and heavy objects that exceed the capabilities of a single robot. However, ensuring the safety of these…